

I 




Glass 

Book- 



COMTE'S 



S^319l^Z 



PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES: 

1888 



BEING AN 



EXPOSITION OF THE PRINCIPLES 



OF THE 



COURS DE PHILOSOPHIE POSITIVE 



OF 



AUGUSTE COMTE. 



BV 

G. H. LEWES, 

■THOR OF "THE BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY," ETC. 



LONDON: 

HENEY G. BOHN, YOEK STEEET, COVENT GAEDEN. 

MBCCCLI1I, 




3 






London 

Wilson and Ogilvy, 

Skinner Street. 



jl£Z£ 




n \X Cl PBEFACE. 

X V 

The following attempt to popularize the leading ideas 
of the greatest thinker of modern times consists of Two 
Parts, differently treated. 

$c 

The First Part contains the philosophy of the six 
Preliminary Sciences (Psychology being included for 
reasons there adduced) ; the Second Part contains 
Social Science, including the philosophy of History. 
In the former there is, besides an exposition of Comtek 
views, a large admixture of criticism, illustration, new 
speculation and fact ; in the latter I have scarcely added 
anything, confining myself to an abridgment of his 
exposition, preserving his own terms, as far as practicable. 

The main reason of this difference in treatment lies 
in the subject itself. It was but just that Comte 
should be allowed to state in his own way, and without 
interruption, the principles of a Science he himself 
created. This consideration did not apply to the other 
sciences, and in order to make the volume more 



IV PREFACE. 

attractive, I have, while expounding his principles, 
brought them to bear upon the present state of 
science ; accordingly, instead of the Organic Chemistry 
and Physiology of 1838, the reader will here find the 
very latest facts and ideas of 1853. 

It is right to add that a considerable portion of the 
First Part appeared as a series of articles in The 
Leader newspaper from April to August 1852 ; written 
amid avocations how numerous, and how conflicting, 
only friends can know ! They have been carefully 
revised and greatly enlarged ; three new sections have 
been added : one of them propounding a theory 
of the Passage from the Inorganic to the Organic, 
the importance of which demands, indeed, far more 
exhaustive treatment than is there given; but as it 
seems hopeless for me to expect the requisite leisure, 
I send the theory forth to meet with whatever accept- 
ance its real value will procure. 

One word in conclusion respecting the remark made 
by Sir William Hamilton, and quoted by Mr. Morell 
in his Philosophic Tendencies of the Age, to the effect 
that it is somewhat surprising Comte should begin to be 
taken up in England just as he is being given up in 
France. The intended inference is obvious; unfortu- 
nately, the fact is altogether erroneous. So far from 
his reputation declining in France, it is now be- 
ginning to assume importance, not only by the increase 
of disciples, but by the adhesion of eminent men. 
From the very nature of his philosophy, it could only 



PREFACE V 

hope for an early acceptance among those men of 
science whose preliminary studies in some sort quali- 
fied them to receive it — namely, the Physiologists. 
Accordingly, while jealous metaphysicians and narrow 
mathematicians are angry and contemptuous in speak- 
ing of him, he now counts among his French disciples 
Dr. Littre, the physiologist, and his first eminent 
coadjutor, — Dr. Charles Robin,* perhaps the most dis- 
tinguished living French anatomist, and the worthy 
successor to Bichat, — Dr. Verdeil, the organic chemist, 
— Dr. Segond, the physiologist, — and J. B. Beraud, 
whose admirable Manuel de Physiologie appeared while 
these sheets were passing through the press. As to 
the mass of his readers, it is enough to say that the 
Philosophie Positive is out of print, and his other works 
are published at prices so moderate that a large sale 
must be calculated on, — which does not look like a 
waning reputation. 

But after all, a system of philosophy is supremely 
independent of its temporary acceptance, or rejection, in 
France, or elsewhere ; our question is simply : Is it true ? 

If the following pages enable a conscientious answer 
to be given to this question their purpose is fulfilled. 



G. H. Lewes, 
Kensington, Sept. 1853. 



CONTENTS 



Page 
Biographical Introduction ........ 1 

Part I. FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCES. 

SECTION I. 

General Considerations on the Aim and Scope of Positivism . 8 

SECTION II. 
What is Philosophy? 18 

SECTION HI. 
The Fundamental Law of Evolution 26 

SECTION IV. 
Classification of the Sciences 40 

SECTION V. 
What are the Laws of Nature ? 51 

SECTION YI. 

Philosophical Considerations on the Mathematical Sciences . 58 

section yn. 

General Considerations on Astronomy 75 

SECTION YIIL 
Astronomy and Beligion 84 

SECTION IX. 
The Scope and Bearing of Physics 93 

SECTION X. 
On the Influence and Method of Physics 101 

SECTION XI. 
G-eneral Considerations on Chemistry 113 

section xn. 

Position and Method of Chemistry 121 

section xin. 

Organic Chemistry 132 

SECTION XIV. 
The Passage from the Inorganic to the Organic .... 142 

SECTION XV. 
The Science of Life 163 

SECTION XVI. 
Scope and Method of Biology 173 



viii CONTENTS. 



1 



Page 
SECTION XVII. 
Philosophic Anatomy 180 

SECTION XVIII. 
Yital Dynamics 190 

SECTION XIX. 
Vital Dynamics : Materialism or Immaterialism ? 198 

SECTION XX. 
Vital Dynamics : Instinct and Intelligence .... 206 

SECTION XXI. 
Psychology : a New Cerebral Theory 213 

Part II. SOCIAL SCIENCE. 

SECTION I. 
The Three Eeigning Doctrines 233 

SECTION II. 
Attempts to Create a Doctrine 243 

SECTION III. 
General Spirit of Sociology 249 

SECTION IV. 
Social Statics : Method and Elements 256 

SECTION V. 
Social Dynamics • . . . 268 

SECTION VI. 
Ages of Fetichism and Polytheism ....•• 273 

SECTION VII. 
Catholicism : Middle Ages 288 

SECTION VIII. 
The Transition Age . . . . . • . • 300 

SECTION IX. 

Eise of the Industrial Order ....... 305 

SECTION X. 
iEsthetic, Scientific, and Philosophic Evolution .... 313 

SECTION XI. 
The French Eevolution 322 

SECTION XII. 

The Future 327 

Conclusion 340 




COMTE'S 



PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 



BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 



At the close of the Biographical History of Philosophy , 
after having traversed the great epochs of speculation, 
I endeavoured, by a few rapid touches, to sketch the 
position occupied by Auguste Comte, the greatest 
thinker of modern times, — the man whose doctrine is to 
the nineteenth century something more than that which 
Bacon's was to the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies. Imperfect and meagre as that sketch necessarily 
was, confined within the narrow limits of a concluding 
chapter, it has not been without its effect in leading to a 
more intimate study of Comte ; and one may hope 
that a considerable public may be found eager to 
hear a more ample and more detailed description of 
the Positive Philosophy. A long cherished inten- 
tion to do this in some shape or other is now at last 
to be gratified. It is one of our noble human instincts 
that we cannot feel within us the glory and the power of 
a real conviction without earnestly striving to make that 
conviction pass into other minds. All propagande is 

B 



2 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

religions ; all steadfast preaching of the truth, such as 
our minds decree it, is a human duty, a social instinct. 
Otherwise, why ruffle the complacency of fools by de- 
monstrating their absurdities ? Why draw upon oneself 
the harsh names and harsher constructions, the scorn and 
bitterness, of those from whom we differ? I owe 
too much to the influence of Auguste Comte, guid- 
ing me through the toilsome active years, and giving 
the sustaining Faith which previous speculation had 
scattered, not to desire that others should likewise par- 
ticipate in it. For ten years it has been with me, sur- 
viving all changes of opinion, and modifying my whole 
mental history ; and my debt of gratitude.is inexpres- 
sible in words. If, after this recognition, I shall be 
found dissenting from some opinions energetically 
maintained by Comte and his unhesitating disciples, it 
is only necessary to remind the reader that reverence is 
not incompatible with independence. 

Auguste Comte was born in 1797. His family was 
eminently catholic and monarchical — a detail not with- 
out its significance in considering his philosophic educa- 
tion. His collegiate education commenced in one of those 
institutions wherein Bonaparte vainly endeavoured to 
restore the antique preponderance of the theologico- 
metaphysical regime. It was at college, in his quick and 
eager youth, that Bacon rose up in scorn against the 
scholastic course of study, and planned the first sketch of 
the Novum Organum. It was at college that Descartes 
became painfully conscious of the incompetence of the 
Aristotelian method, and the vanity of the reigning 
sciences. It was at college that Locke grew impatient of 
the quibbling pedantries which passed current as philo- 
sophy, and learned to despise all education except self- 
education. So also it was at college that Comte first felt 
the necessity of an entire renovation of philosophy ; and, 
impressed with the conviction that the restriction of 
the scientific Method to the phenomena of the inorganic 



BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 3 

world was an absurdity, he saw thus early the absolute 
necessity of applying that Method to vital and social 
problems. Bacon was thirteen, Comte fourteen, when 
this reforming spirit awoke in each. 

He was still in this condition of mind when he became 
acquainted with the celebrated St. Simon, and worked 
under him as one of his most active disciples. In after- 
life he characterised St. Simon as u a very ingenious 
but very superficial writer, whose nature, more active 
than speculative, was assuredly not very philosophic, 
and was really moved by nothing but an immense per- 
sonal ambition."" The coincidence in their point of 
view, viz., the necessity of a Social Renovation based 
upon a Mental Revolution, brought them together ; and 
the charm and personal ascendancy of St. Simon seems 
to have subjugated Comte, who considers, however, that 
their intercourse only troubled and interrupted the 
genuine course of his own speculations, by directing 
them towards futile attempts at direct political action. 

His career was interrupted in another and more pain- 
ful manner in 1826, when over-work and heart anxieties 
brought on a cerebral excitement, which, under the care 
of mad doctors, was fostered into decided insanity. 
After the doctors had declared him incurable, he was 
cured by domestic care and tenderness. He has himself 
boldly stated this episode in his life, in anticipation of 
the perfidy of antagonists, who would not fail to fling 
it in derision at him. That this insanity was but a 
transient cerebral disorder, no reader of his volumes 
need be told ; for whatever opposition his opinions may 
excite, however false and absurd they may appear, they 
assuredly have nothing of that extravagance and flighti- 
ness to which the imputation of madness can be applied. 

His life appears to have been a quiet scientific life, 
his daily bread earned by teaching mathematics, both 
in private and at the Ecole Poly technique, where he was 



4 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

professor. His leisure was devoted to the slow elabora- 
tion of his philosophy. He has told us the story of 
his persecutions, in the preface to the sixth volume of 
the Philosophie Positive ; but, of course, he has only 
told us his view of the matter ; and we know that men 
writing the story of their wrongs are not always the 
most accurate of historians. That he had offended 
Arago, and most of his brother professors, is quite clear ; 
and the fact of his gradual dismissal from one post 
after another is as indisputable as it is deplorable. The 
reader will learn with pain that Comte, in his fifty- 
seventh year, is thrown upon the world, with no other 
resources than such as his friends and admirers can col- 
lect for him. 

Besides his official teaching, Comte has for many years 
been accustomed to deliver gratuitous lectures on sections 
of the positive philosophy, every Sunday, for six months 
in the year ; by this means disseminating among the 
people general truths of the most important nature. And 
these avocations may be said to have constituted his life, 
varied by two constant recreations — Poetry and Music. 
His writings, which already amount to twelve thick 
volumes, have been composed with a rapidity almost 
incredible. The whole of the first volume of the Philo- 
sophie Positive (900 pages) was written in three months ! 
and the rest with a rapidity which will in some measure 
account for the imperfections of his verbose style. His 
works are as follows : — 

Cours de Philosophie Positive, 6 vols. Paris, 1830 — 
42. 

Traite Elementaire de Geometrie Analytique, 1 vol. 
Paris, 1843. 

Traite d* Astronomie Populaire, 1 vol. Paris, 1845. 

Discours sur V Ensemble du Positivisme, 1 vol. Paris, 
184S (a volume which is reprinted in the following 
work). 



BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 5 

Systeme de Politique Positive, 4 vols, (two of which 
only have appeared). Paris, 1851 — 2. 

Catechisme Positiviste, ou Sommaire Exposition de la 
Religion Universelle, 1 vol. Paris, 1852. 

There are two grand divisions in his life, correspond- 
ing with the two fundamental divisions of his philosophy. 
The lonely man of science, whose days were passed in 
meditation and the task-work of tuition, who led a 
purely intellectual life, was well fitted for the great 
mission of elaborating a philosophy of the Sciences, and 
thereby laying the immutable basis of a new Social 
Doctrine, — in other words, of elaborating a Philosophy 
as the indispensable preparation for a Religion; but 
this intellectual life, in proportion as it fitted him for 
the co-ordination of scientific principles, rendered him 
unfitted, by its exclusiveness, for that intense and en- 
larged conception of our emotional life, with which 
Religion and Morality are inseparably connected. I 
am touching here upon a characteristic of the Positive 
Philosophy, which, for a long time to come, will be an 
obstacle to its acceptance; for men of Science will 
reject with a sneer the subordination of the Intel- 
lect to the Heart, — of Science to Emotion; and the un- 
scientific, feeling the deep and paramount importance 
of our Moral Nature, will be repelled from a philosophy 
which rests solely upon a scientific basis. Logic and 
Sentiment — to use popular generalizations — have long 
been at war, and men reject Comtek system, because 
it seeks to unite them. 

That the Intellectual aspect is not the noblest aspect 
of man, is a heresy which I have long iterated with the 
constancy due to a conviction. There never will be a 
Philosophy capable of satisfying the demands of Huma- 
nity, until the truth be recognised that man is moved 
by his emotions, not by his ideas : using his Intellect only 
as an eye to see the way. In other words, the Intellect is 
the servant, not the lord of the Heart; and Science is 



6 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

a futile, frivolous pursuit, unworthy of greater respect 
than a game of chess, unless it subserve some grand 
religious aim, — unless its issue be in some enlarged con- 
ception of man's life and destiny ! I say this without 
much fear of being misunderstood. My opinions on 
religion have been too often, and too unequivocally pro- 
nounced, to admit of the supposition, that in thus placing 
Science in subordination to Religion, there is any wish 
to countenance the current declarations of ortho- 
doxy. I agree with the spirit of those declarations, 
while totally disagreeing with the opinions they imply. 
Although I do not owe to Auguste Comte the convic- 
tion of moral supremacy, I have been greatly strength- 
ened in the conviction by observing its growth in his 
mind. 

At the age of forty-five, Comte fell in love with an 
unhappy and remarkable woman, separated from her 
husband. One whole year of chaste and exquisite affec- 
tion changed his life. He had completed his great work 
on Positive Philosophy. His scientific elaboration was 
over. He was now to enter upon the great problems of 
Social Life ; and by a fortunate coincidence, it was at 
this moment that he fell in love. It was then this Phi- 
losopher was to feel in all its intensity the truth which 
he before had perceived,— viz., that in the mass, as in 
the individual, predominance is due to the affections, 
because the intellect is really no more than the servant 
of the affections. A new influence, penetrating like 
sunshine into the very depths of his being, awakened 
there the feelings dormant since childhood, and by their 
light he saw the world under new aspects. He grew 
religious. He learned to appreciate the abiding and 
universal influence of the affections. He gained a new 
glimpse into man's destiny. He aspired to become the 
founder of a new religion — the religion of Humanity. 

For one long blissful year, Auguste Comte knew the 
inexpressible happiness of a profound attachment ; and 



BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 7 

then the consolation of his life was withdrawn from him 
— the angel who had appeared to him in his solitude, 
opening the gates of heaven to his eager gaze, vanished 
again, and left him once more to his loneliness ; but, 
although her presence was no longer there, a trace of 
luminous glory left behind in the heart of the bereaved 
man, sufficed to make him bear his burden, and dedicate 
his days to that great mission which her love had 
sanctified. 






comte's philosophy of the sciences, 



SECTION I. 

general considerations on the aim and scope 
or positivism. 

There is one very injurious, though very intelligible mis- 
take current on the subject of the Positive Philosophy. 
It is supposed to be a thing of dry, severe science, only 
interesting to scientific men — presenting only the scien- 
tific aspect of things, and leaving untouched the great 
questions of Emotion, of Art, of Morality, of Religion ; a 
philosophy which may amuse the intellect of the specu- 
lative few, but can never claim the submission of the 
mass. The mistake is injurious, because the thinking 
world happens, unfortunately, to be divided into two 
classes — men of science destitute of a philosophy, because 
incompetent for the most part to the thorough grasp of 
those generalities which form a philosophy ; and meta- 
physicians, whose tendency towards generalities causes 
them to disdain the creeping specialities of physical 
science. Thus, between Science which ignores Phi- 
losophy, and Philosophy which ignores Science, Comte 
is in danger of being set aside altogether. These pages 
will probably convince the reader, that the Positive Phi- 
losophy must necessarily reconcile these discrepancies, 
and that, while rendering due recognition to the speciali- 
ties of experimentalists, it gives full scope to the 
generalizing tendency of philosophers. Meanwhile, the 
moralist, the metaphysician, and the man of letters, may 
be assured, that if Comtek system has one capital dis- 
tinction more remarkable than another, it is the absolute 



ON THE AIM AND SCOPE OF POSITIVISM. 9 

predominance of the moral point of view — the rigorous 
subordination of the intellect to the heart. Speculation, 
as a mere display of intellectual energy, it denounces ; 
science, as commonly understood, it looks upon with 
something of the feeling which may move the moralist 
contemplating the routine of pin-makers. The half-repug- 
nant feeling about science, in the minds of literary men, 
artists, and moralists, is a natural and proper insurgence 
of the emotions against the domineering tendency of the 
intellect : men know that the moral life is larger and 
more intense than the intellectual life — they know that 
this moral life has its needs, which no science can pre- 
tend to regulate, and they reject a philosophy which 
speaks to them only of the Laboratory. But in Comte, 
Science has no such position. It is the basis upon which 
the social superstructure may be raised. It gives Phi- 
losophy materials and a Method ; that is all. 

If the Positive Philosophy be anything, it is a doc- 
trine capable of embracing all that can regulate Hu- 
manity ; not a treatise on physical science, not a treatise 
on social science, but a system which absorbs all intel- 
lectual activity. " Positivism," he says, in his recent 
work, " is essentially composed of a Philosophy and a 
Polity, which are necessarily inseparable because they 
constitute the basis and aim of a system wherein intellect 
and sociability are intimately connected." And farther 
on, " This then is the mission of Positivism : to gene- 
ralize science, and to systematize sociality." In other 
words, it aims at creating a Philosophy of the Sciences 
as a basis for a new social faith. A social doctrine is 
the aim of Positivism, a scientific doctrine the means ; 
just as in man, intelligence is the minister and in- 
terpreter of life. " En effet, si le coeur doit toujours poser 
les questions, e'est toujours a P esprit qu'il appartient de 
les resoudre." 

So much for the aim. Let me now call attention to 
Comte's initial conceptions ; and first, to the luminous 



10 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

conception of all the sciences — physical and social — as 
branches of one Science, to be investigated on one and 
the same Method. 

To say that Science is one, and that the Method should 
be one, may, to the hasty reader, seem more like a 
truism than a discovery ; but on inquiry he will find, that 
before Comte, although a general idea of the connec- 
tion of the physical sciences was prevalent, yet, to 
judge from Mrs. Somerville's work, or Herschers 
Discourse, it was neither very precise nor very pro- 
found; no one had thought of a Social Science issuing 
from the Physical Sciences, and investigated on 
the same method. In fact, to talk of moral questions 
being reduced to a positive science will even now be 
generally regarded as absurd. Men use the phrase 
"Social Science," "Ethical Science," but they never 
mean thereby that Ethics forms one branch of the great 
tree, rising higher than the physical sciences, but rising 
from the same root. On the contrary, they interpret 
ethical phenomena by metaphysical or theological 
methods, and believe History to be under the govern- 
ance not of Laws, but of caprice. 

The second initial conception which the reader 
should familiarize his mind with, is that of the funda- 
mental Law of human development : — There are but 
three phases of intellectual evolution — for the individual 
as well as for the mass — the Theological [Supernatural), 
the Metaphysical, and the Positive. 

Hereafter this law will be illustrated in detail, and 
a very brief indication will be sufficient now. In the 
Supernatural phase the mind seeks causes ; it aspires 
to know the essences of things, and the How and Why of 
their operation. It regards all effects as the productions 
of supernatural agents. Unusual phenomena are in- 
terpreted as the signs of the pleasure or displeasure of 
some god. In the Metaphysical phase, a modification 
takes place ; the supernatural agents are set aside for 



ON THE AIM AND SCOPE OF POSITIVISM. 11 

abstract forces or Entities supposed to inhere in various 
substances, and capable of engendering phenomena. In 
the Positive phase the mind, convinced of the futility of 
all inquiry into causes and essences, restricts itself to the 
observation and classification of phenomena, and to the 
discovery of the invariable relations of succession and 
similitude which things bear to each other : in a word, 
to the discovery of the laws of phenomena. 

The third initial conception is that beautiful classifi- 
cation of the sciences co-ordinated by the luminous 
principle of commencing with the study of the simplest 
[most general) phenomena, and proceeding successively 
to the most complex and particular ; thus arranging the 
sciences according to their dependence on each other. 

The three great conceptions just stated no one can be 
expected to appreciate until he has applied them. But 
how would he appreciate any general conception — say the 
law of gravitation — if it were simply presented to him 
as a formula which he had not verified ? Let an honest 
verification of the three formulas be made, and I have 
the deepest conviction that no competent mind will fail 
to recognise them as the grandest contributions to phi- 
losophy since Descartes and Bacon inaugurated the 
positive method. 

And now a word on the part Positivism is to play in 
the coming years of struggle. That a new epoch is 
dawning, that a new form of social life is growing up out 
of the ruins of feudalism, the most superficial observer 
cannot fail to see ; and as signs of the deep unrest now 
agitating society, no less than as evidence of the inde- 
structible aspiration after an Ideal which has always 
moved mankind, the systems of Communism so con- 
fidently promulgated attract the attention of most 
thinkers. But can any system of Communism yet de- 
vised be accepted as an efficient solution of the social 
problem ? Positivism says No ; and for this reason : Com- 
munism is simply apolitical solution of a problem which 



12 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

embraces far deeper and higher questions than politics. 
Communism is the goal towards which society tends, 
not a path by which the goal may be reached. Neither 
cooperation, nor watchwords of fraternity, however sin- 
cerely translated into action, can pretend to compass the 
whole problem. For let us suppose the political ques- 
tions settled; let us imagine a parallelogram of har- 
monious success — a human bee-hive of cooperative 
activity, — will all be settled then ? Will not the deep 
and urgent questions of Religion and Philosophy still 
demand an answer ? Just where man most obviously 
rises above the bee, Communism leaves him to the care 
of Priests and Teachers, who cannot agree among them- 
selves ! and as all polity is founded on a system of ideas 
believed in common, as we cannot in social problems iso- 
late the political from the moral, the moral from the re- 
ligious system, Communism leaves society to its anarchy. 
The present anarchy of politics arises from the anarchy 
of ideas. The ancient faiths are shaken where they are 
not shattered. The new faith which must replace them 
is still to come. What Europe wants is a Doctrine 
which will embrace the w r hole system of our conceptions, 
which will satisfactorily answer the questions of Science, 
Life, and Religion ; teaching us our relations to the 
World, to Duty, and to God. A mere glance at the 
present state of Europe will detect the want of unity, 
caused by the absence of any one Doctrine general 
enough to embrace the variety of questions, and positive 
enough to carry with it irresistible conviction. This last 
reservation is made because Catholicism has the requisite 
generality, but fails in convincing Protestants. The 
existence of sects is enough to prove, if proof were 
needed, that none of the Religions are competent to their 
mission of binding together all men under one faith. 
As with religion, so with philosophy : no one doctrine is 
universal; there are almost as many philosophies as 
philosophers. The dogmas of Germany are laughed at 



ON THE AIM AND SCOPE OF POSITIVISM. 13 

in England and Scotland ; the psychology of Scotland 
is scorned in Germany, and neglected in England. 
Besides these sectarian divisions, we see Religion and 
Philosophy more or less avowedly opposed to each other. 

This, then, is the fact with respect to general doc- 
trines : — Religions are opposed to religions, philosophies 
are opposed to philosophies ; while religion and philo- 
sophy are essentially opposed to each other. 

In positive Science there is less dissidence, but there 
is a similar absence of any general Doctrine. Each 
science rests on a broad firm basis of ascertained truth, 
and rapidly improves ; but a Philosophy of the Sciences 
is nowhere to be found, except in the pages of Auguste 
Comte. The speciality of most scientific men, and 
their seeming incapacity of either producing or appre- 
hending general ideas, has long been a matter of just 
complaint; they are Hodmen, and fancy themselves 
Architects. This incapacity is one of the reasons why 
'nebulous metaphysics still waste the fine activity of 
noble minds ; men see clearly enough that, however 
exact each separate science may be, these sciences do not 
of themselves constitute philosophy : bricks are not a 
house. In the early days of science, general views were 
easily attained. As the materials became more com- 
plex, various divisions took place; one man devoted 
himself to one science, another to another. Even then, 
general ideas were not absent. But, as the tide swept 
on, discovery succeeding discovery, like advancing waves, 
new tracks of inquiry opening vast wildernesses of 
undiscovered truth, it became absolutely necessary 
for one man to devote the labour of a life to some small 
fraction of a science, leaving to others the task of rang- 
ing his discoveries under their general head. The result 
has been, that most men of science regard only their 
speciality, and leave to metaphysicians the task of con- 
structing a general doctrine. Hence we find at present 
abundance of ideas powerless, because they are not posi- 



14 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

tive ; and the positive sciences powerless, because they 
are not general. The aim of Comte is to present a 
doctrine positive, because elaborated from positive 
science, and yet possessing all the desired generality of 
metaphysical schemes, without their vagueness, baseless- 
ness, and inapplicability. 

Some remarks from Comtek introductory lecture may 
now we quoted. 

" It is not, I believe, to the readers of this work that 
I require to prove that ideas govern the world, maintain 
it in order, and throw it into anarchy ; or, in other 
words, that the whole social mechanism is based ulti- 
mately upon opinions. They well know that the present 
great political and moral crisis in society really depends, 
at bottom, on our intellectual anarchy. Our greatest 
evil, indeed, consists in the profound divergence existing 
among all minds in relation to every fundamental maxim, 
fixity in which is the principal condition of all social 
order. So long as individual minds do not adhere to- 
gether from a unanimous agreement upon a certain 
number of general ideas, capable of forming a common 
social doctrine, the state of the nations will of necessity 
remain essentially revolutionary, in spite of all the politi- 
cal palliatives that can be adopted ; and will not permit 
the establishing of any but provisional institutions. It 
is equally certain that, if this union of minds, from a 
community of principles, can once be obtained, institu- 
tions in harmony with it will necessarily arise, without 
giving room for any serious shock, — that single fact of 
itself clearing away the greatest disorder. It is, there- 
fore, to this point that the attention of all those who 
perceive the importance of a truly normal state of things 
ought principally to be directed. 

" Now, from the point of view to which the different 
considerations noticed in this discourse have by degrees 
elevated us, it is easy at once to characterize the present 
state of society with precision and to its inmost centre, 



ON THE AIM AND SCOPE OF POSITIVISM. 15 

*id at the same time to deduce the means by which we 
can effect an essential change upon it. By means of the 
all-important law enounced at the beginning of this dis- 
course, I believe I can exactly sum up all the observa- 
tions made upon the present condition of society, by 
simply saying that the present intellectual anarchy 
depends, at bottom, on the simultaneous employment of 
three philosophies radically incompatible : the theolo- v 
gical, the metaphysical, and the positive. It is in fact 
clear, that if any one of those three philosophies really 
obtained an universal and complete preponderance, there 
would be a determinate social order, whereas our especial 
evil consists in the absence of all true organization what- 
ever. It is the co-existence of the three antagonistic 
philosophies that absolutely prevents a mutual under- 
standing upon any essential question. Now, if this view 
is correct, we have only to ascertain which of the three 
philosophies can, and, from the nature of things, must 
prevail ; every man of sense will then feel obliged to 
concur' in its triumph, whatever his own peculiar opinions 
may have been before the question was thoroughly 
analyzed and settled. The inquiry being at once re- 
duced to this simple footing, it plainly cannot remain 
for any length of time indeterminate ; since it is evi- 
dent, from various reasons, that the positive philo- 
sophy is alone destined to prevail, according to the 
ordinary course of things. It alone, for a long series of 
ages, has been making progress, while its antagonists 
have constantly been in a state of decline ; rightly or 
wrongly, — it matters not : the general fact is incontest- 
able, and that is enough." 

Surely no one will question this fact of scientific pro- 
gress, concurrent with the decline of Religious and 
Metaphysical systems ? If he do question it, let him 
refer to the ample proofs furnished by Comte ; and, as 
regards Metaphysics, to the Biographical History of 



16 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 

Philosophy. This unequivocal proclamation of history 
must not be disregarded ; to that which Humanity has 
persisted in through the long course of centuries let no 
man shut his eyes ! 

These general considerations cannot be better con- 
cluded than by giving Comte's views of education. 

" The establishment of the Positive Philosophy will 
be the presiding and influencing agent in the general re- 
construction of our system of Education. Already, 
indeed, all enlightened minds unanimously recognise 
the necessity of discarding our European system of edu- 
cation, which is still essentially theological, metaphysical, 
and literary, and substituting for it a positive education 
in harmony with the spirit of the age, and suited to the 
wants of modern civilization. The spontaneous con- 
viction of this necessity has been everywhere extending 
itself, as we see from the varied and ever increasing 
attempts, for a century, and particularly of late, to diffuse 
positive instruction, and to augment it without limit. 
The different governments of Europe have always zea- 
lously joined in these efforts, when they did not happen 
to originate them. But while we further these useful 
undertakings, as far as possible, we must not conceal the 
fact that, in the present state of our ideas, they are 
utterly powerless to effect their chief object, — namely, 
the radical regeneration of general education. For, the 
exclusive speciality and too marked absence of any bond 
of connection, which continue to characterise our mode 
of regarding and cultivating the sciences, must of 
necessity greatly affect the manner of expounding them 
in our course of education. If an intelligent person at 
the present day studies the principal branches of natural 
philosophy, in order to form a general system of positive 
ideas, he is obliged to study each of them separately, 
after the same method, and in the same detail, as if his 
object specially were to become an astronomer, or a 



ON THE AIM AND SCOPE OF POSITIVISM. ] 7 

chemist, &c. Hence such an education is almost im- 
possible, and necessarily imperfect, even where the 
intellect of the student is of the highest order, and his 
position, otherwise, the most favourable; and it would 
be altogether a chimerical proceeding, for people going 
through a general course of education, to attempt study- 
ing the sciences in this detailed way. And yet a general 
education absolutely requires an ensemble of positive 
conceptions upon all the great elements of natural 
phenomena. It is an ensemble of this sort, on a scale 
more or less extensive, that must henceforth become, 
even among the popular masses, the permanent basis of 
all human combinations ; that must, in a word, give the 
general tone to the minds of our posterity. In order 
that natural philosophy may complete the regeneration 
of our intellectual system, already so far in progress, it 
is indispensable that its different constituent sciences 
(exhibited to every mind as the diverse branches of a 
single trunk) be, in the first place, reduced to that in 
which their general features consist, — namely, to their 
principal methods and to their most important results. 
It is only in this way that instruction in the sciences can 
become among us the basis of a new and truly rational 
general education. And there can be no doubt that, 
to this fundamental course of instruction, there will 
be added the different special scientific studies, answer- 
ing to the different special courses of education which 
have to succeed the general course. But the essential 
consideration which I wished to point out here, lies in 
this, that all these specialities, the accumulation of great 
labour, would necessarily be insufficient for thoroughly 
renovating our system of education, if they did not rest 
on the preliminary basis of this general course of instruc- 
tion, itself the direct result of the positive philosophy as 
defined in this discourse." 



18 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



SECTION IT. 

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY ? 

We shall find some obscurities cleared up, if we can 
master an accurate and comprehensive definition of 
philosophy. The definition I hare finally settled upon 
is this : — Philosophy is the Explanation of the Pheno- 
mena of the Universe. By the term Explanation, the 
subject is restricted to the domain of the Intellect, and 
is thereby demarcated from Religion, though not from 
Theology. The definition not only seems to me a plain 
expression of the precise nature of Philosophy, but 
thereby serves to rid us of the perplexities arising from 
the opposition between Metaphysics and Science, which 
are thus shown to be nothing more than different 
methods of reaching the same end. To wrest its secret 
from the Universe, and to understand our relations to 
external Nature and to Man, is equally the object of 
Metaphysical as of Positive inquiry ; but the Metaphy- 
sician believes he can penetrate into the causes and 
essences of the phenomena around him, while the 
Positivist, recognising his incompetency, limits his 
efforts to the ascertainment of the laws which regulate 
the succession of these phenomena. 

Philosophy is inherent in man's nature. It is not a 
caprice, it is not a plaything, — it is a necessity ; for our 
life is a mystery, surrounded with mysteries : we live 
encompassed by wonder. The myriad aspects of Nature 
without, the strange fluctuations of feeling within, all 
demand from us an explanation. Standing upon this 
ball of earth, so infinite to us, so trivial in the infinitude 
of the Universe, we look forth into Nature with reverent 



WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? 19 

awe, with, irrepressible curiosity. We must have ex- 
planations. And thus it is that philosophy, in some 
rude shape, is a visible effort in every condition of the 
history of man, — in the rudest phase of half-developed 
capacity, and in the highest conditions of culture : it is 
found among the sugar-canes of the West Indies, and 
in the tangled pathless forests of America. Take man 
where you will — hunting the buffalo on the prairies, 
or immoveable in meditation on the hot banks of 
the Ganges, — priest or peasant, soldier or student, he 
never escapes from the pressure of the burden of that 
mystery which forces him to seek, and readily to accept, 
some explanation of it. The savage, startled by the 
muttering of distant thunder, asks, " What is that ?"■ 
and is restless till he knows, or fancies he knows. If 
told it is the voice of a wrathful demon, that is enough : 
the explanation is given. If he then be told that to 
propitiate the demon the sacrifice of some human being 
is necessary, — his slave, his enemy, his friend, perhaps 
even his child, falls a victim to the credulous terror. 
The childhood of man enables us to retrace the infancy 
of nations. No one can live with children without 
being struck by their restless questioning, and un- 
quenchable desire to have everything explained, no less 
than by the facility with which every authoritative 
assertion is accepted as an explanation. The History 
of Philosophy is the story of man's successive attempts 
to explain the phenomena around and within him. 

The first explanations were naturally enough drawn 
from analogies furnished by consciousness. Men saw 
around them activity, change, force; they felt within 
them a mysterious power, which made them active, 
changing, potent : they explained what they saw, by 
what they felt. Hence the fetichism of barbarians, the 
mythologies of more advanced races. Oreads and 
Nymphs, Demons and Beneficent Powers, moved among 
the ceaseless activities of Nature. Man knows that in 



20 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

his anger lie storms, shouts, destroys : what, then, is 
thunder but the anger of some mighty invisible being ? 
Moreover, man knows that if his enemy offer him a 
present it will assuage his anger, and, therefore, it is 
but natural he should believe the offended thunderer will 
also be appeased by some offering. As soon as another 
conception of the nature of thunder has been elaborated 
by observation and study of its phenomena, the supposed 
deity vanishes, and, with it, all the false conceptions it 
originated, till, at last, Science takes a rod, and draws 
the terrible lightning from the heavens, rendering it so 
harmless that it will not tear away a spider's web ! 

But long centuries of patient observation and impa- 
tient guessing, controlled by logic, were necessary before 
such changes could take place. The development of 
Philosophy, like the development of organic life, has 
been through the slow additions of thousands upon 
thousands of years ; for Humanity is a growth, as our 
globe is, and the laws of its growth are still to be 
discovered. 

One of the great fundamental laws has been dis- 
covered by Auguste Comte. Before proceeding to 
expound it, however, it may not be out of place to 
inquire whether any law of intellectual evolution can be 
regarded as a fitting exponent of the evolution of 
Humanity, — in other words, whether the various con- 
ditions of social existence are dependent on, or cor- 
respond with, conditions of scientific development? 
This has been so luminously stated by John Stuart Mill, 
in the sixth book of his Logic, that I shall borrow the 
whole passage. 

" In order to obtain better empirical laws, we must 
not rest satisfied with noting the progressive changes 
which manifest themselves in the separate elements of 
society, and in which nothing is indicated but the rela- 
tion of the fragments of the effect to corresponding 
fragments of the cause. It is necessary to combine the 



WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? 21 

statical view of social phenomena with the dynamical, 
considering not only the progressive changes of the 
different elements, but the contemporaneous condition 
of each ; and thus obtain empirically the law of corre- 
spondence not only between the simultaneous states, but 
between the simultaneous changes, of those elements. 
This law of correspondence it is, which, after being 
duly verified a priori, will become the real scientific 
derivative law of the development of humanity and 
human affairs. 

" In the difficult process of observation and com- 
parison which is here required, it would evidently be a 
very great assistance if it should happen to be the fact 
that some one element in the complex existence of social 
man is pre-eminent over all others as the prime agent 
of the social movement. For we could then take the 
progress of that one element as the central chain, to 
each successive link of which, the corresponding links of 
all the other progressions being appended, the succession 
of the facts would by this alone be presented in a kind 
of spontaneous order, far more nearly approaching to 
the real order of their filiation than could be obtained 
by any other merely empirical progress. 

" Now, the evidence of history and the evidence of 
human nature combine, by a most striking instance of 
consilience, to show that there really is one social 
element which is thus predominant, and almost para- 
mount, among the agents of the social progression. 
This is, the state of the speculative faculties of man- 
kind; including the nature of the speculative beliefs, 
which by any means they have arrived at, concerning 
themselves and the world by which they are surrounded. 

" It would be a great error, and one very little likely 
to be committed, to assert that speculation, intellectual 
activity, the pursuit of truth, is among the more power- 
ful propensities of human nature, or fills a large place 
in the lives of any, save decidedly exceptional individuals. 



22 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

But notwithstanding the relative weakness of this prin- 
ciple among other sociological agents, its influence is 
the main determining cause of the social progress ; all 
the other dispositions of our nature which contribute to 
that progress being dependent upon it for the means of 
accomplishing their share of the work. Thus (to take 
the most obvious case first,) the impelling force to most 
of the improvements effected in the arts of life is the 
desire of increased material comfort; but as we can 
only act upon external objects in proportion to our 
knowledge of them, the state of knowledge at any time 
is the impassable limit of the industrial improvements 
possible at that time ; and the progress of industry must 
follow, and depend upon, the progress of knowledge. 
The same thing may be shown to be truth, though it is 
not quite so obvious, of the progress of the fine arts. 
Further, as the strongest propensities of human nature 
(being the purely selfish ones, and those of a sympa- 
thetic character which partake most of the nature of 
selfishness) evidently tend in themselves to disunite 
mankind, not to unite them, — to make them rivals, not 
confederates ; social existence is only possible by a dis- 
ciplining of those more powerful propensities, which 
consists in subordinating them to a common system of 
opinions. The degree of this subordination is the 
measure of the completeness of the social union, and 
the nature of the common opinions determines its kind. 
But in order that mankind should conform their actions 
to any set of opinions, these opinions must exist, must 
be believed by them. And thus, the state of the specu- 
lative faculties, the character of the propositions assented 
to by the intellect, essentially determines the moral and 
political state of the community, as we have already 
seen that it determines the physical. 

" These conclusions, deduced from the laws of human 
nature, are in entire accordance with the general facts 
of history. Every considerable change historically 



WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? 23 

known to us in the condition of any portion of mankind, 
has been preceded by a change, of proportional extent, 
in the state of their knowledge, or in their prevalent 
beliefs. As between any given state of speculation, and 
the correlative state of everything else, it was almost 
always the former which first showed itself; though the 
effects, no doubt, reacted potently upon the cause. 
Every considerable advance in material civilization has 
been preceded by an advance in knowledge \ and when 
any great social change has come to pass, a great change 
in the opinions and modes of thinking of society had 
taken place shortly before. Polytheism, Judaism, 
Christianity, Protestantism, the negative philosophy of 
modern Europe, and its positive science — each of these 
has been a primary agent in making society what it was at 
each successive period, while society was but secondarily 
instrumental in making them } each of them (so far as 
causes can be assigned for its existence) being mainly 
an emanation not from the practical life of the period, 
but from the state of belief and thought during some 
time previous. The weakness of the speculative pro- 
pensity has not, therefore, prevented the progress of 
speculation from governing that of society at large ; it 
has only, and too often, prevented progress altogether, 
where the intellectual progression has come to an early 
stand for want of sufficiently favourable circumstances. 

" From this accumulated evidence, we are justified in 
concluding, that the order of human progression in all 
respects will be a corollary deducible from the order of 
progression in the intellectual convictions of mankind ; 
that is, from the law of the successive transformations 
of religion and science." 

Assuming it proved, as history will warrant, that the 
evolutions of Humanity correspond with the evolutions 
of Thought — that Science is the torch whereby we see 
our way — the importance of the fundamental law disco- 
vered by Comte cannot easily be exaggerated. It is to 



24 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Social Science what Newton's great discovery was to 
Physics. To make the reader fairly master its signifi- 
cance, I will, in the next section, illustrate the law by 
familiar examples. 

This section may be closed with a digression on the sub- 
ject of atheism, which many writers attribute to Comte. 
The charge is a mistake. Comte certainly, by more than 
one passage, leads an incautious reader, dipping here and 
there, to suppose him an atheist ; but no truthful-minded 
man could read Comte' s works with that attention all 
serious works demand, and not be strongly impressed by 
the forcible and scornful rejection of atheism so often 
there recurring. He regards atheism as the dregs of 
the metaphysical period, and his scorn for metaphysics 
is incessant. A passage from his Discourse on the En- 
semble of Positivism, to all who know his unequivocal 
outspeaking, will be sufficient : — 

" Although I have long formally rejected all solidarity 
— dogmatic no less than historic — between positivism 
and what is called atheism, I will here indicate a few 
summary points of view. Even considered under the 
purely intellectual aspect, atheism only constitutes a 
very imperfect emancipation, since it tends to prolong 
indefinitely the metaphysical stage by its ceaseless pur- 
suit of new solutions of theological problems, instead of 
pushing aside all such problems as essentially inacces- 
sible. The true positive spirit consists in always sub- 
stituting the study of laws for that of causes — the hoiv 
for the why. It is, therefore, incompatible with the 
ambitious dreams of a misty atheism relative to the 
formation of the universe, the origin of animals, &c. 
Positivism, in its appreciation of our diverse stages of 
speculation, does not hesitate to declare these doctoral 
chimeras very inferior — even in rationality — to the 
spontaneous beliefs of mankind. For the principle of all 
theology consisting in explaining phenomena by the 
intervention of a will, it can only be set aside by the 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EVOLUTION. 25 

recognition of the truth that causes are inaccessible, and 
by the study of the laws. So long as we persist in 
solving the problems of our infancy, it is idle to reject 
the naive method which our young imagination applied 

to them, and which alone suit their nature 

Atheists may therefore be regarded as the most illogical 
of theologians, since they attempt the theological problems 
while rejecting the only suitable method." 

That passage is surely explicit enough, if nothing 
else. I quote it, less to remove a misconception cur- 
rent in England, than to anticipate the objection of 
those who, reading that Comte is an atheist, would ask 
me what I meant by saying he aspired to the character 
of founder of a new Religion. 

We may now address ourselves to the consideration 
of his Fundamental Law of Human Evolution* 



26 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



SECTION III. 

the fundamental law of evolution. 

In the attempts made by man to explain the varied 
phenomena of the universe, history reveals to us three 
distinct and characteristic stages, by Comte named the 
Theological (Supernatural), the Metaphysical, and the 
Positive. 

In the first, man explains phenomena by some fanciful 
conception suggested by the analogies of his own con- 
sciousness. 

In the second, he explains phenomena by some a priori 
conception of inherent or superadded entities, suggested 
by the constancy observable in phenomena, which con- 
stancy leads him to suspect that they are not produced 
by any intervention on the part of an external being, but 
are owing to the nature of the things themselves. 

In the third, he explains phenomena by adhering 
solely to these constancies of succession and co-existence 
ascertained inductively, and recognised as the laws of 
nature. 

It will be seen that the theological stage is the primi- 
tive spontaneous exercise of the speculative faculty, pro- 
ceeding from the known (i. e. consciousness) to the 
unknown. The metaphysical stage is the more matured 
effort of reason to explain things, and is an important 
modification of the former stage ; but its defect is, that 
it reasons without proofs, and reasons upon subjects 
which transcend human capacity. The positive stage 
explains phenomena by ascertained laws, laws based on 
distinct and indisputable certitude gathered in the long 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EVOLUTION. 27 

and toilsome investigations of centuries ; and these laws 
are not only shown to be demonstrable to reason, but 
accordant with fact ; for the distinguishing character- 
istic of science is, that it sees and foresees. Science is 
prevision. Certainty is its basis and its glory. 

In the theological stage, Nature is regarded as the 
theatre whereon the arbitrary wills and momentary 
caprices of Superior Powers play their varying and 
variable parts. Men are startled at unusual occurrences, 
and explain them by fanciful conceptions. A solar eclipse 
is understood, and unerringly predicted to a moment, by 
Positive Science; but in the theological epoch it was be- 
lieved that some dragon had swallowed the sun ! In the 
metaphysical stage, the notion of capricious divinities is 
replaced by that of abstract entities, whose modes of 
action are, however, invariable ; and in this recognition 
of invar iableness lies the germ of science. In this epoch, 
Nature has a " horror of a vacuum f organized 
beings have a " vital principle," and matter has a vis 
inertice. 

In the positive stage, the invariableness of phenomena 
under similar conditions is recognised as the sum total 
of human investigation, — beyond the laws which regulate 
phenomena, it is idle to penetrate. 

When men put up prayers for rain or fine weather, 
they are acting upon the theological conception that 
these phenomena are not resultants of invariable laws, 
but of some variable will. The clergyman refusing to 
pray for rain u while the wind is in this quarter," naively 
rebukes the impropriety of the request. When men 
believe that if you " wish for something," on seeing a 
piebald horse, the wish will be realized — when they 
believe that if thirteen sit down to dinner, one will die 
before the year is out — when they believe that if any 
one be bitten by a dog, he will suffer hydrophobia, should 
the dog afterwards be attacked by that disease — when 
they believe that a peculiar conjunction of the stars will 



28 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

rule their destinies — they are in the theological stage : 
they conceive Nature as indefinitely variable. 

History is crowded with examples of this conception. 
In poetry, in literature, in daily life, we constantly find 
traces of this primitive spontaneous mode of conceiving 
things. To take an illustration : — In the camp of 
Agamemnon an epidemic breaks out. The men die by 
scores • but as the dreadful arrows of death are invisible, 
a terrified army attributes the pestilence to the anger of 
offended Apollo, who avenges an insult to his priest by 
this " clanging of the silver bow." This explanation, so 
absurd in our eyes, was acceptable to the facile acquies- 
cence of that epoch ; and expiatory peace-offerings were 
made to the irritated deity, in a case where modern 
science, with its sanitary commission, would have seen 
bad drainage or imperfect ventilation ! But to prove 
that the theological stage is not thoroughly and uni- 
versally passed, we need only refer to the monstrous 
illustration of our own days, when learned men, the 
teachers of our people, gravely attributed the cholera 
to God's anger at England's endowment of the May- 
nooth Colleges ! 

There was a church in Sienna which had often been 
injured by lightning. A conductor was set up, in de- 
fiance of the " religious world/' wherein it was regarded 
as " the heretical stake." A storm arose, the lightning 
struck the tower ; crowds flocked to see if the church 
was spared, and lo ! the very spiders' webs upon it were 
unbroken ! Here we see science correcting the mis- 
chievous prejudices of theology. 

Mythology is poetry to us ; to the ancients it was 
religion and science. The explanations given in those 
days were all drawn from the fundamental conception of 
Nature as subject to no other laws than those of super- 
natural agencies. The lowest of the theological periods 
is that of Fetichism ; from that there is a transition to 
Polytheism; and the highest is Monotheism, wherein 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EVOLUTION. 29 

the providential agency of One being is substituted for 
that of many independent divinities. 

The same tendency to look beyond the fact for an ex- 
planation of the fact — to imagine an agency superadded 
to the phenomena — is visible in the metaphysical period. 
The notion of invariableness is admitted, and to explain 
it some " entity" or " principle" is imagined. Thus 
Kepler imagined that the regularity of planetary move- 
ments was owing to the planets being endowed with 
minds capable of making observations on the sun's 
apparent diameter, in order to regulate their motions so 
as to describe areas proportioned to the times. Thus, also, 
natural philosophers even now continue to repeat the old 
notions of a vis inertice, which they talk of "overcoming;" 
and in chemistry they imagine " affinities/"' while they 
laugh at the old notion of a " phlogistic principle." In 
biology we see the Metaphysical Method still running 
riot. Aristotle may, historically, be admired for his 
conception of " animating principles" (feat), which 
caused the vital actions of animals and plants — principles 
which had a sort of hierarchy among themselves, under 
a supreme controlling agent (cpwig) • but while the his- 
torian of science will award the praise due to such a 
theory in the series of progressive conceptions, he must 
with wonder, not unmingled with contempt, record that 
a philosopher of considerable repute (Dr. Prout) has 
in this nineteenth century revived that conception in all 
the plenitude of its absurdity. Dr. Prout assumes the 
existence of organic agents, whose office it is to produce 
and regulate vital phenomena, " distinct intelligent 
agents," all under one hierarchy, " each possessing more 
or less control over all the agents below itself, and 
having the power of appropriating their services, till at 
length, in the combined operation of the whole series of 
agents at the top of the scale, we reach the perfection of 
organic existence." That such a notion has not been 
met by shouts of laughter, shows how dimly the 



30 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Positive Method is conceived even by men of positive 
science ! 

As a striking and useful example of this metaphysical 
method, let us consider the widely spread belief in a 
vis medicatrioc natura, or, as the vulgar express it, 
" Nature the best physician." Not only the vulgar, 
but renowned men of science, believe that the process of 
reparation which is observed in the organism — the power 
which ejects noxious ingredients from the system — the 
"conservative powers," in short — are owing to some 
"tendency," or "principle," which they set down to the 
credit of " Nature ;" forgetting that if the restoration 
of the torn tissue or broken limb be attributed to a 
vis medicatrioc, or " curative principle," death by poison 
must then be attributed to a "poisoning principle." 
An exhalation from an uncovered drain or stagnant 
pool enters the blood through the active agency of 
the lungs. What does Nature ? Does she resist this 
disturbing influence — eject this noxious ingredient ? 
Not she ! she pumps away as if the poison were the most 
beneficent of visitors, and distributes it throughout the 
organism with the same impartiality as she distributes 
the health-giving oxygen. On the metaphysical method, 
we must suppose some "principle" at work here. What 
shall we call it ? The vis deletrix — the " destructive 
principle ?" Physiologists — especially those who indulge 
in natural theology — explain to you the " beneficent in- 
tention" of the digestive apparatus ; but they omit to 
add, that if, instead of mutton, you introduce arsenic, 
watchful Nature does not commence an antiperistaltic 
action, and eject the poison, but absorbs it as actively as 
if it were pregnant with nutriment : the vis deletrix is 
at work ! An insect settles in some part of your body ; 
takes up its abode there, and begins to make itself com- 
fortable by feeding on the body. Does Nature, by her 
vis medicatrioc, expel the intruder ? Does a cheese expel 
the maggot ? Nature cherishes the parasitic fungus, 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EVOLUTION". 31 

feeds and fosters it with tender care, makes much of it, 
nourishes its vitality with the vitality of your body ; and 
so tendered, the fungus grows and grows till you are 
destroyed ; and you — who perhaps may be a Shakspeare, 
a Goethe, a Bacon, a man of quite infinite value to 
Humanity — are sacrificed to a fungus ! 

In truth, Nature is neither Physician nor Assassin ; 
and it is only our vain efforts to discover her " inten- 
tions" that make her appear such. Our province is to 
study her laws, to trace her processes, and, thankful that 
we can so far penetrate the divine significance of the 
universe, be content — as Locke wiselv and modestlv 

j mm 

says — to sit down in quiet ignorance of all transcendent 
subjects. 

In the final and Positive stage, men accept N ature as 
she presents herself, without seeking beyond the facts 
for fantastic entities. " It was formerly believed/' savs 
Oersted, "that basilisks existed in cellars which had 
been long closed; they were invisible, but their look 
killed whoever it fell upon. Since it is become more 
generally known that fermentation is produced by a 
noxious air, whose weight causes it to accumulate in low 
places, we recognise the destructive agent, and drive it 
awav bv means of fresh air." There vou have an ex- 
ample of the two conceptions, metaphysical and positive : 
the one seeking its explanation in an unknown entity 
(basilisk), the other in known laws of Nature's processes. 
History shows us the gradual dispersion of superstitions 
and fantastic creeds before the light of certainty which 
Science carries everywhere. 

The history of any science will furnish examples of 
the three Methods, and Comte, in the course of his work, 
has given several : let me add one from Teratology, or 
the " Science of Monstrosities," — a science only possible 
within the last century, since the discoveries of Geoffroy 
St. Hilaire. 

At first, when an unhappy mother brought forth one 



32 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

of those " organic deviations" we name " monsters,"— 
such, for example, as a child with two heads, or a child 
with no head, the ready explanation was, that such a 
monster came as a " token of God's anger ;" sometimes 
it was said that the devil had seduced or violated the 
mother, and this monster was the result ! Here we 
have the spontaneous explanation suggested by the Theo- 
logical spirit. In later times, this explanation was 
relinquished as ridiculous. It was then believed, — as, 
indeed, it is still very generally believed, — that the acorn 
contained the oak, and the germ contained the man. 
This Metaphysical conception of primitive germs, 
potentially containing all that may subsequently be 
developed from them, naturally led men to argue that a 
monster was originally a monster — that the deforma- 
tion existed potentially in the primitive germ — and the 
curious student who may consult the works of Serres 
and Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire will find, many of 
the ingenious arguments which have been from time 
to time advanced in favour of the primitive deformity 
of the germ.* The third or Positive conception of 
Epigenesis, or gradual organic development in accord- 
ance with conditions, has finally routed the meta- 
physical conception of " pre-existent germs f and by 
considering monsters as simple cases of " organic devi- 
ation," has, with the aid of Geoffroy St. Hilaire' s great 
law of " arrested development," made monstrosity a 
branch of positive embryology. 

Thus we have God's anger, or the devil's lust, repre- 
senting the Theological spirit ; Potential pre-existent 
germs, representing the Metaphysical spirit ; and, finally, 
" Arrest of development," representing the Positive 
spirit. 

Having multiplied examples from Science, let me close 

* Serres, Organogknie andAnatomieTranscendante; Isidore Geoffroy 
St. Hilaire, Histoire des Anomalies de V Organization. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EVOLUTION. 33 

these illustrations by one from Politics. So completely 
are men in the Theological and Metaphysical stages, 
with respect to the Science of Society, thkt, ignoring all 
laws and conditions of growth and development, they 
almost universally believe in the absurd notion of a 
political change being wrought by an alteration in the 
Government, or by the adoption of some scheme. For 
example, they believe that to make society republican, 
we must adopt the forms of a Republic; not seeing 
that when these forms of government are given to a 
nation, instead of growing out of the national tendencies 
and ideas, they are merely new names given to old 
realities. The belief is a remnant of the old theological, 
mechanical conception, which supposes man to be ex- 
ternal to the social organism, instead of being an integral 
portion of it. We must replace this mechanical by a 
dynamical conception, and understand that the social 
organism has its laws of growth and development, like 
the human organism. 

And here let me illustrate Comtek fundamental Law 
of Evolution by an analogy taken from the human 
organism. To do this, it will be necessary first to explain 
one of the laws of Embryology : 

Every function is successively executed by two (some- 
times more) organs : of which one is primitive, transi- 
tory, provisional ; the other, secondary, definitive, 
permanent. 

There is always a relation between these two organs, 
— a relation not only of function, but of development 
and duration. The provisional organ first supplies the 
place of the permanent organ, then coexists with it, 
during the earlier phases of the latter's evolution ; and, 
finally, when the permanent organ has acquired due 
development, the provisional organ either ceases its 
function altogether, or performs it incompletely. Some 
of these provisional organs, such as milk teeth, and the 
down which is afterwards replaced by hair, separate 



3i | COMTE's PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 

themselves from their successors, falling away to make 
room for them. Others are absorbed, and become 
diminished to a rudimentary condition or mere zero : 
such are the branchiae, always present in tadpoles, and 
now known to coexist with the kings of many of the 
higher vertebrata ; suck, also, are the optic lobes of the 
brain, at first the principal organs of the encephalon, 
but which gradually diminish as the cerebral hemi- 
spheres develope, and finally present the rudimentary 
condition observed in the human brain as the corpora 
quadrigemina ; such, also, are the thymus gland and the 
foetal tail, which disappear, and the renal capsules and 
thyroid gland, which diminish. 

Again, in the development of the embryo we distin- 
guish three forms of circulation entirely different ; the 
first form of circulation is coincident with the formation 
of the blastoderma and the umbilical vesicle ; tke second 
form commences witk tke first appearance of tke allan- 
toid, and development of tke placenta ; tke tkird form 
witk tke development of lungs, intestines, and organs of 
relation. Tkese tkree forms, be it observed, are ckarac- 
terized by tke creation of new vascular systems, and tke 
atropky of tkose wkick preceded tkem. 

Tkese examples migkt be multipked, but it will be 
enougk to sum up tke results of embryological researck 
on tkis point in tke two following propositions : — 

1. That everything which is primitive is only pro- 
visional, at least in tke kigker animals ; and everything 
that is permanent has only been established secondarily, 
and sometimes tertiarily. 

2. That, consequently, the embryo of the higher 
animals successively renews its organs and its character- 
istics, through a series of metamorphoses which give it 
permanent conditions, not only different, but even directly 
contrary to those which it had primitively. 

Now, among tke innumerable striking analogies be- 
tween tke development of tke Human and tke Social 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EVOLUTION. 35 

Organism it seems to me we must place this law of pro- 
visional development. The three phases, Theological, 
Metaphysical, and Positive, through which Humanity 
necessarily passes in its growth, represent the Primitive, 
Transitory, and Permanent phases of the organism. The 
analogy is perfect in all its details, and I invite the 
student to follow out its various applications : he will 
then arrive at the full conviction of what can only here 
be indicated, — namely, that the Theological and Meta- 
physical phases are provisional organs in the development 
of Humanity. 

Having, by various examples, endeavoured to popu- 
larize the conception of the fundamental law of the three 
phases through which Humanity passes, I will conclude 
with some passages of my former exposition of Comte's 
system, and risk the tediousness of repetition, for the 
sake of the effect of iteration : — 

" All are agreed, in these days, that real knowledge 
must be founded on the observation of facts. Hence 
contempt of mere theories. But no science could have 
its origin in simple observation • for if, on the one hand, 
ail positive theories must be founded on observation, so, 
on the other, it is equally necessary to have some sort of 
theory before we address ourselves to the task of steady 
observation. If, in contemplating phenomena, we do 
not connect them with some principle, it would not only 
be impossible for us to combine our isolated observa- 
tions, and consequently to draw any benefit from them ; 
but we should also be unable even to retain them, and 
most frequently the important facts would remain un- 
perceived. We are consequently forced to theorize. A 
theory is necessary to observation, and a correct theory 
to correct observation. 

u This double necessity imposed upon the mind — of 
observation for the formation of a theory, and of a theory 
for the practice of observation — would have caused it to 
move in a circle, if nature had not fortunately provided 



36 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

an outlet in the spontaneous activity of the mind. This 
activity causes it to begin by assuming a cause, which it 
seeks out of nature, i. e. } supernatural. As man is con- 
scious that he acts according as he wills, so he naturally 
concludes that everything acts in accordance with some 
superior will. Hence Fetichism, which is nothing but 
the endowment of inanimate things with life and volition. 
This is the logical necessity for the supernatural stage : 
the mind commences with the unknowable ; it has first 
to learn its impotence, to learn the limits of its range, 
before it can content itself with the knowable. 

"(The metaphysical stage is equally important as the 
transitive stage. The supernatural and positive stages 
are so widely opposed that they require intermediate 
notions to bridge over the chasm. In substituting an 
entity inseparable from phenomena for a supernatural 
agent, through tvhose will these phenomena were pro- 
duced, the mind became habituated to consider only the 
phenomena themselves. This was a most important 
condition. The result was, that the ideas of these meta- 
physical entities gradually faded, and were lost in the 
mere abstract names of the phenomena. 

"The positive stage was now possible. The mind 
having ceased to interpose either supernatural agents or 
metaphysical entities between the phenomena and their 
production, attended solely to the phenomena them- 
selves. These it reduced to laws ; in other words, it 
arranged them according to their invariable relations of 
similitude and succession. The search after essences and 
causes was renounced. The pretension to absolute 
knowledge was set aside. The discovery of laws became 
the great object of mankind. 

" Remember that although every branch of know- 
ledge must pass through these three stages, in obedience 
to the law of evolution, nevertheless the progress is not 
strictly chronological. Some sciences are more rapid in 
their evolution than others ; some individuals pass 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EVOLUTION. 37 

through these evolutions more quickly than others \ so 
also of nations. The present intellectual anarchy results 
from that difference ; some sciences being in the positive, 
some in the supernatural, and some in the metaphysical 
stage : and this is further to be subdivided into indi- 
vidual differences ; for in a science which, on the whole, 
may fairly be admitted as being positive, there will be 
found some cultivators still in the metaphysical stage. 
Astronomy is now in so positive a condition, that we 
need nothing but the laws of dynamics and gravitation 
to explain all celestial phenomena ; and this explanation 
we know to be correct, as far as anything can be known, 
because we can predict the return of a comet with the 
nicest accuracy, or can enable the mariner to discover 
his latitude and find his way amidst the ' waste of 
waters/ This is a positive science. But so far is 
meteorology from such a condition, that prayers for 
dry or rainy weather are still offered up in churches ; 
whereas if once the laws of these phenomena were traced, 
there would no more be prayers for rain than for the sun 
to rise at midnight. Remark, also, that while in the 
present day no natural philosopher is insane enough to 
busy himself with the attempt to discover the cause of 
attraction, thousands are busy in the attempt to discover 
the cause of life and the essence of mind ! This differ- 
ence characterizes positive and metaphysical sciences. 
The one is content with a general fact, that - attraction 
is directly as the mass and inversely as the square of the 
distance f this being sufficient for all scientific purposes, 
because enabling us to predict with unerring certainty 
the results of that operation. The metaphysician, or 
metaphysical physiologist, on the contrary, is more occu- 
pied with guessing at the causes of life, than in observing 
and classifying vital phenomena with a view to detect 
their laws of operation. First he guesses it to be what 
he calls a ' vital principle' — a mysterious entity residing 
in the frame, and capable of engendering phenomena. 
He then proceeds to guess at the nature or essence of 



38 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

this principle, and pronounces it ' electricity/ or 
c nervous fluid/ or ' chemical affinity/ Thus he heaps 
hypothesis upon hypothesis, and clouds the subject from 
his view. 

" The closer we examine the present condition of the 
sciences, the more we shall be struck with the anarchy 
above indicated. We shall find one science in a per- 
fectly positive stage (Physics), another in the meta- 
physical stage (Biology), a third in the supernatural 
stage (Sociology). Nor is this all. The same varieties 
will be found to coexist in the same individual mind. 
The same man who in physics may be said to have 
arrived at the positive stage, and recognises no other 
object of inquiry than the laws of phenomena, will be 
found still a slave to the metaphysical stage in Biology, 
and endeavouring to detect the cause of life ; and so 
little emancipated from the supernatural stage in 
Sociology, that if you talk to him of the possibility of a 
science of history, or a social science, he will laugh at 
you as a 'theorizer/ So vicious is our philosophical 
education ! So imperfect the conception of a scientific 
Method ! Well might Shelley exclaim — 

1 How green is this grey world !' 

The present condition of science, therefore, exhibits three 
Methods instead of one : hence the anarchy. To remedy 
the evil, all differences must cease : one Method must 
preside. . Auguste Comte was the first to point out the 
fact, and to suggest the cure; and it will render his 
name immortal. So long as the. supernatural explana- 
tion of phenomena was universally accepted, so long was 
there unity of thought, because one general principle 
was applied to all facts. The same may be said of the 
metaphysical stage, though in a less degree, because it 
was never universally accepted ; it was in advance of the 
supernatural \ but before it could attain universal recog- 
nition, the positive stage had already begun. When the 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES. 39 

positive Method is universally accepted — and the day we 
hope is not far distant, at least among the elite of 
humanity — then shall we again have unity of thought, 
then shall we again have one general doctrine, powerful 
because general. 

" That the positive Method is the only Method adapted 
to human capacity, the only one on which truth can be 
found, is easily proved : on it alone can prevision of 
phenomena depend. Prevision is the characteristic and 
the test of knowledge. If you can predict certain 
results, and they occur as you predicted, then are you 
assured that your knowledge is correct. If the wind 
blows according to the will of Boreas, we may, indeed, 
propitiate his favour, but we cannot calculate upon it. 
We can have no certain knowledge whether the wind 
will blow or not. If, on the other hand, it is subject to 
laws, like everything else, once discover these laws, and 
men will predict concerning it as they predict concern- 
ing other matters. c Even the wind and rain/ to use 
the language of Dr. Arnott, i which in common speech 
are the types of uncertainty and change, obey laws as 
fixed as those of the sun and moon ; and already, as 
regards many parts of the earth, man can foretell them 
without fear of being deceived. He plans his voyages to 
suit the coming monsoons, and prepares against the floods 
of the rainy seasons/ 

" If one other argument be needed, we would simply 
refer to the gradual and progressive improvement which 
has always taken place in every department of inquiry 
conducted upon the positive Method — and with a success 
in exact proportion to its rigorous employment of that 
Method — contrasted with the circular movement of 
Philosophy, which is just as far from a solution of any 
one of its problems as it was five thousand years ago ; 
the only truths that it can be said to have acquired are 
a few psychological truths, and these it owes to the 
positive Method !" 



40 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 



SECTION IV. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES. 

Hitherto I have adhered very little to Comte's 
own exposition of his system. By a more popular 
and discursive exposition, I have endeavoured to fa- 
miliarize the reader with the point of view from which 
to study the Positive Philosophy ; but in treating 
of the luminous conception of a new and final classifi- 
cation of the sciences, it will be well to do so as much 
as possible in Comtek own words. Those who have 
never examined the subject of classification will fail 
to appreciate the gigantic force of philosophic thought 
implied in this scheme. The arrangement seems so 
natural, so obvious, that an acute thinker reviewing 
Comte in Blackwood's Magazine, expressed, what is 
perhaps a very general impression, in saying it was 
just the sort of classification that would naturally arise 
in any reflective mind on a review of the subject. Had 
this critic only remembered the abortive attempts made 
by Bacon, D'Alembert, Stewart, Ampere, and others, 
he would never have suffered that phrase to have es- 
caped him. 

Without, however, criticising the attempts of previous 
thinkers, let us examine the principle laid down in the 
Positive Philosophy. The problem before us is this : 
How to arrange the sciences that the classification may 
itself be the expression of the most general fact ap- 
parent on a profound investigation of the objects which 
this classification includes. The solution of the problem 
lies in this: the dependence of the sciences can only result 
from that of the corresponding phenomena. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES. 41 

Science is a knowledge of the laws of nature. This 
knowledge is the only rational basis of man's action on 
nature. By it, he foresees what will be the result of 
the working of any phenomena left to their own spon- 
taneous activity, and by what modifications he may 
produce a different result more advantageous to himself. 
Science gives power to foresee, and foreseeing leads to 
action. Hence the relation of Science and Art. 

Science leading in this way to the Useful, and there 
having been so much cause in modern times for appre- 
ciating the practical ends it serves, its cultivation has 
become too much associated with ideas of mere profit 
and utility. Comte here, as elsewhere, warns us against 
losing sight of its higher function — that of satisfying a 
fundamental want of our nature. As intelligent beings 
we have an insatiable craving to know the laws of nature. 
For this purpose, when in want of positive conceptions, 
we resort to the theological or metaphysical conceptions. 

The laws of phenomena (theoretical science), and the 
application of those laws to practical purposes, forming 
two distinct branches of speculation, the latter subject, 
it may be inferred, does not fall within the scope of 
Comtek system. 

He makes another elimination. Natural sciences are 
of two kinds — the one abstract, the other concrete, 
special, descriptive. The first are the fundamental 
sciences ; the latter are secondary. The working of the 
abstract laws in particular instances gives rise to the 
concrete laws. General physiology is abstract ; zoology 
and botany are concrete. So with chemistry and mine- 
ralogy : in chemistry we consider all possible combi- 
nations of matter ; in mineralogy we consider only the 
combinations which we find actually existing in the 
minerals. It is Abstract Physics only which fall within 
Comtek classification. 

To enter now directly upon the great question before 
us, we must at the outset recall to mind that, in order to 



42 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

obtain a natural and positive classification of the funda- 
mental sciences, we nave to seek for the principle in a 
comparison of the different orders of phenomena whose 
laws it is their object to discover. What we wish to de- 
termine is, the actual dependence of the various sciences 
among themselves. Now this dependence can only result 
from that of the corresponding phenomena. 

Considering all observable phenomena under this 
point of view, we shall see that it is possible to classify 
them in a small number of natural categories, disposed 
in such a way that the rational study of each category 
may start from a knowledge of the principal laws of the 
preceding category, and become, in its turn, a foundation 
for the study of the succeeding. This order is determined 
by the degree of simplicity, or, what comes to the same 
thing, by the degree of the generality of the phenomena. 
From this difference in simplicity or generality result 
the successive dependence of the phenomena, and, as a 
consequence, the greater or less facility with which they 
may be studied. 

In fact it is, a priori, clear, that the simplest phe- 
nomena, those which are least complicated with others, 
are necessarily the most general also ; because that which 
occurs in the greatest number of cases is, from that very 
fact, to the greatest possible degree unconnected with, 
and independent of, the circumstances peculiar to each 
separate case. We must therefore commence with the 
study of the most general or the most simple phenomena, 
and then proceed in succession to the most complicated, 
if we would conceive natural philosophy in a truly me- 
thodical way ; for since this order . of generality or sim- 
plicity necessarily determines the rational connection of 
the different fundamental sciences by the successive de- 
pendence of their phenomena, it also fixes their com- 
parative degrees of difficulty. 

Our first survey of the ensemble of natural phenomena 
leads us at the outset to divide them, agreeably to the 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES. 43 

principle which we have just established, into two great 
classes — the first comprehending all the phenomena of 
inorganic bodies, the second all those of organized 
bodies. 

The latter are evidently more complex and more 
special than the former • they depend on the preceding 
phenomena, which, on the contrary, do not depend on 
them ; hence the necessity of studying physiological phe- 
nomena only after those of inorganic matter. In what- 
ever way we explain the differences of these two modes 
of existence, it is certain that we observe in living bodies 
all the phenomena, both mechanical and chemical, which 
have place in inorganic bodies, and besides these, an 
entirely special order of phenomena — vital phenomena 
— those peculiar to organization. Organized and in- 
organized matter may, or may not, considered as noumena, 
be of the same nature ; the philosophy eschews such 
inquiries; it is enough that there is a recognised difference 
between them such as to require them to be studied 
separately, and that, on any hypothesis as to the nature 
of this difference, general phenomena ought to be studied 
before their special modifications. 

This is not the proper place for a general comparison 
between organized and inorganized matter. At present, 
it is sufficient that we recognise the logical necessity 
of separating the science which embraces organised 
matter from that relating to inorganized matter, and of 
not proceeding to the study of organic physics till after 
having established the general laws of inorganic physics. 

As to inorganic physics, we see at once that by con- 
tinuing to adhere to the order of generality and of de- 
pendence of the phenomena, they must be divided into two 
distinct sections, according as they refer to the general 
phenomena of the universe, or specially to those which are 
presented to us by terrestrial matter. Hence we have 
celestial physics, or astronomy, geometrical and me- 
chanical; and terrestrial physics. There is the same 



44 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

necessity for this division as there was for the preceding 
one. 

Astronomical phenomena being the most general, the 
most simple, and the most abstract of all, it is evident 
that the study of natural philosophy ought to commence 
with them, since the laws to which they are subject act 
on those of all other phenomena, they themselves being, 
on the contrary, essentially independent. In all the 
phenomena of terrestrial physics, we observe the general 
effects of universal gravitation, besides certain other 
effects which are peculiar to themselves, and which modify 
the first. It follows that when we analyze the simplest 
terrestrial phenomenon, whether chemical or even purely 
mechanical, we always find it more compound than the 
most complex celestial phenomenon. It is thus, for 
example, that the simple movement of a falling body, 
even when that of a solid only, really offers (if we 
would take into account all the influencing circum- 
stances), a more complicated subject of inquiry than the 
most difficult astronomical question. This consideration 
clearly shows how indispensable it is that a distinct 
separation be made between celestial physics and terres- 
trial physics, and of passing to the study of the second 
only after the first, which is its rational basis. 

Terrestrial physics are, in their turn, subdivided into 
two very distinct portions, according as they relate to 
bodies considered under the mechanical point of view, or 
under the chemical. In order to conceive the former in 
a truly methodical manner, there is evidently implied a 
previous knowledge of the other. For all chemical 
phenomena are necessarily more complex than physical 
phenomena ; they are dependent on them, without act- 
ing on them. Every one knows that all chemical action 
is subject to the influence of weight, heat, electricity, 
&c, and that, at the same time, it manifests something 
peculiar to itself which modifies the action of the pre- 
ceding agencies. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES. 45 

The above, therefore, is the rational division of the 
principal branches of the general science of inorganic 
bodies. There is an analogous division, formed in the 
same manner, in the general science of organic bodies. 

All living beings present two orders of phenomena 
essentially distinct — those relating to the individual, and 
those relating to the species^ more especially when it is 
sociable. It is chiefly in respect to man that this dis- 
tinction is fundamental. The latter order of phenomena 
is evidently more complicated and more special than the 
former : it is dependent on it without influencing it. 
Hence, two great sections in organic physics, namely, 
physiology, properly so called, and social physics, which 
are founded on physiology. 

In all social phenomena, we observe in the first place 
the influence of the physiological laws of the individual, 
and also something special, which modifies their effects, 
and which concerns the action of individuals on one 
another. 

This influence is singularly complicated in the human 
species by the action of each generation upon its suc- 
cessor. Hence it is evident, that in order to study social 
phenomena in a proper way, it is necessary to begin 
with a profound knowledge of the laws relating to indi- 
vidual life. On the other hand, it by no means follows 
from this necessary subordination between the two 
subjects of study (as some physiologists of the first rank 
have been led to believe), that we only see in social 
physics an appendix to physiology. Although the 
phenomena may certainly be homogeneous, they are not 
at all identical ; and it is of radical importance to make 
a separation between the two sciences. For it would be 
impossible to treat the study of the species under the 
collective point of view, as a pure deduction from the 
study of the individual, since the social conditions which 
modify the action of the physiological laws become there 
the most essential object of consideration. It follows 



46 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

that social physics ought to be based upon a body of 
direct observations, suitable to it, — having the while due 
regard, as is proper, to its intimate and necessary con- 
nection with physiology, properly so called. 

We find, as the result of this discussion, that Positive 
Philosophy is naturally divided into five fundamental 
sciences, whose succession is determined by a necessary 
and invariable subordination, based upon the simple, 
but profound, comparison of the corresponding pheno- 
mena. These sciences are — astronomy, physics, che- 
mistry, physiology, and lastly, sociology. The first 
relates to phenomena the most general, the most simple, 
the most abstract, and the most remotely connected with 
humanity; they act on all the others, without being 
acted on by them. The phenomena falling under the 
last, are, on the contrary, the most special, the most 
complex, the most concrete, and the most directly 
interesting to man ; they depend more or less on all the 
preceding ones, without exercising any influence upon 
them. Between these two extremes, the degree of 
speciality, of complication, and of individuality of the 
phenomena, is gradually increasing, as well as their 
successive dependence. 

One very essential characteristic of our classification 
is, its necessary conformity to the actual order of the 
development of natural philosophy. This is verified by 
all we know of the history of the sciences, particularly 
during the two last centuries, where we are able to 
follow their course more exactly. 

Indeed, one sees that since the rational study of each 
of the fundamental sciences requires, as a preliminary, 
the cultivation of all those that precede it in the 
encyclopaedical hierarchy, it could have made no real 
progress, nor could it have assumed its true character, 
until after a great development of the anterior sciences 
relative to phenomena more general, more abstract, and 
less complex, and independent of the others. It is, 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES. 47 

therefore, in this order that the progression, although 
simultaneous, must have taken place. 

This consideration is, in Comtek eyes, so important, 
that he believes it impossible really to comprehend the 
history of the human mind without paying regard to it. 
The general law of human Evolution cannot be properly 
understood, unless, in its applications, we combine it 
with the encyclopaedical formula just established. For, 
it was in the order laid down in this formula that the 
different theories held by mankind reached successively, 
first, the theological state, next, the metaphysical state, 
and last of all, the positive state. If we do not take it 
into account when referring to the operation of the law 
of this necessary progression, we shall often meet with 
difficulties which appear insurmountable, since it is clear 
that the theological or metaphysical state of some funda- 
mental theories must have temporarily coincided with 
each other, and in fact coincided at times with the positive 
state of those which go before them in our encyclopae- 
dical system, — a circumstance which tends to throw 
upon the verification of the general law an obscurity that 
can only be dispelled by the preceding classification. 

In the third place, that classification presents the 
very remarkable property of marking with exactness 
the relative states of perfection of the different sciences, 
—a perfection which consists essentially in the degree 
of precision with which the phenomena are known to 
us, and in the more or less intimate co-ordination of our 
knowledge of them. 

The more general, simple, and abstract the pheno- 
mena, the more precise are our ideas with respect to 
them. Mathematical propositions, for example, are the 
most precise of all. But Comte reminds us that pre- 
cision is one thing, certainty another. An absurd and 
false proposition may be made very precise, and, on the 
other hand, although the sciences vary in the degree of 
precision, they all present results equally certain. The 
reader should not suppose that any one science is less 






48 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

certain in its results than another, because it is less 
precise. 

Lastly, the most interesting characteristic of the en- 
cyclopaedical formula, on account of the importance and 
multiplicity of the immediate applications which we can 
make of it, is that of directly determining the true 
general plan of a scientific and entirely rational educa- 
tion. This is a direct consequence of the very compo- 
sition of the formula. 

It is evident, in fact, that before undertaking the me- 
thodical study of any one of the fundamental sciences, 
it is absolutely necessary to be prepared by an examina- 
tion of such of them as refer to the phenomena that 
go before it in the encyclopaedical scale, since the latter 
always weightily influence those whose laws are to be 
the subject of study. 

If the remark is eminently applicable to general edu- 
cation, it is as much so to the special education of 
savans. The natural philosophers who have not in the 
first place studied astronomy, at least under the general 
point of view; the chemists who, before occupying 
themselves with their own science, have not previously 
studied astronomy, and, after it, physics ; the physio- 
logists who have not prepared themselves for their spe- 
cial labours by a preliminary study of astronomy, of 
physics, and of chemistry ; — all want one of the funda- 
mental conditions of their intellectual development. It 
is still more evident in the case of those minds who 
would devote themselves to the positive study of social 
phenomena without having first acquired a general 
knowledge of astronomy, physics, chemistry, and phy- 
siology. 

It is a proposition at the very root of Comte's system, 
that until the sciences are learned in their natural order, 
which at present is seldom the case, a scientific educa- 
tion will be incapable of realizing its most general and 
essential results. 

He proceeds to point out that it is not only as to 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES. 49 

doctrine that his encyclopaedical law serves as a basis 
for a scientific education ; it is of equal importance as 
to method. In passing from one science to another, we 
discover the several modifications which method (essen- 
tially the same in all) undergoes. A proper knowledge 
of the positive method can only be acquired in this 
way. Each science develops characteristic processes of 
its own : one, observation — another, experiment of one 
sort — a third, experiment of another sort. And they 
ought to be taken in the encyclopaedical order. What 
rational product, of any great national superiority, can 
come from a mind which occupies itself from the very 
outset with the study of the most complicated pheno- 
mena, without having first been made to understand, 
by an examination of the most simple phenomena, what 
it is we call a law, — what it is to observe, — what is a 
positive conception, — what even is logical reasoning? 
Such, however, is still at this day the ordinary course 
of our young physiologists, who most frequently com- 
mence directly the study of living bodies, without 
having received any other preparation than a preli- 
minary education, limited to the study of one or two 
dead languages ; and having but a very superficial 
knowledge of physics and chemistry, — a knowledge 
almost amounting to nothing, so far as respects Method, 
seeing that generally it has not been obtained in a 
rational manner, nor by proceeding from the true start- 
ing point of natural philosophy. While, in respect to 
social phenomena, which are more complex still, would 
it not be taking a great step towards the return of 
modern society to a truly normal state, to recognise 
the logical necessity of only proceeding to the study of 
these phenomena, after having gradually trained up the 
intellectual organ by a profound and philosophical 
examination of all the anterior phenomena ? We may 
•even say, with the utmost correctness, that the main 
difficulty lies wholly here. For there are few intel- 



50 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

ligent minds who are not now convinced that it is 
necessary to study social phenomena according to the 
Positive Method. Owing to those who are engaged in 
the study not knowing, and not being able to see 
exactly wherein this Positive Method consists, from not 
having examined it in its anterior applications, this 
maxim has hitherto been almost sterile in renovating 
social theories, which are not as yet out of the theo- 
logical or metaphysical state, notwithstanding the efforts 
of professed positive reformers. 

The reader may have marked the omission of mathe- 
matics in the encyclopaedical scale. This science, how- 
ever, is placed by Comte, in virtue of the principle of 
his classification, at the verv head of the scale. But he 
regards this vast and important science less as a con- 
stituent part of natural philosophy than as the true and 
fundamental basis of it ; and he values it not so much 
for its own intrinsic truths, as for its being the great 
and most powerful instrument in furthering the progress 
of science. 



WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF NATURE ? 51 



SECTION V. 

WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF NATURE ? 

The three great initial conceptions of the Positive Phi- 
losophy having been set forth in the preceding sections, 
I will now give some analysis of the six volumes of 
scientific exposition forming the Cours de Philosophie 
Positive, But, before finally leaving the subject of 
Comtek Law of Evolution, I will insert a note ad- 
dressed to me by a friend, which may help to clear up 
some obscurities in my own exposition. The importance 
of the law warrants our dwelling on it : — 

" The following observations may perhaps prove ser- 
viceable to the younger students of the Positive Philo- 
sophy. In the Law of Evolution, they must not suppose, 
as many do, that each of the three periods had a sepa- 
rate and exclusive existence. On the contrary, the 
Theological, Metaphysical, and Positive elements have 
always co-existed. But in the first period, Theology 
has been the predominating element; in the second, 
Metaphysical; in the third, Positive conception has 
predominated. The germ of Positivism will be found 
even in the Fetichistic stage ; nor was man ever abso- 
lutely incapable of Abstraction. On the other hand, 
the Positive period will not entirely exclude the initial 
and intermediate tendencies of the human mind. It 
should be observed, too, that these three states are all 
closely connected ; for the Metaphysical is a transition 
state, and is partly theological and partly scientific. The 
chasm between Supernaturalism and Positivism is 
bridged over by Metaphysics. "Without it Humanity 
would never have arisen ; for natura non agit per saltum. 
The principle of gradation or continuity, the charac- 



52 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

teristic of nature, is also the characteristic of the new 
Philosophy, and will be found to underlie all its logical 
and scientific conceptions. As an illustration, I subjoin 
a passage from Sir John HerschePs Discourse : — ' There 
can be little doubt that the solid, liquid, and aeriform 
states of bodies are merely stages in a progress of gra- 
dual transition from one extreme to the other; and 
that, however strongly marked the distinctions be- 
tween them may appear, they will ultimately turn 
out to be separated by no sudden or violent line of 
demarcation, but shade into each other by insensible 
gradations/ '* 

The present is a favourable occasion for bringing 
forward a criticism on the much-used and much-abused 
term, "Laws of Nature," which for nearly twenty 
years I have employed with misgiving. The phrase has 
two vices : it is inaccurate, and it is misleading ; and 
a severe critic might not unreasonably condemn its 
employment in Positive Philosophy. The conception 
implied in, or suggested by, the phrase, "Laws of 
Nature," is the last and most refined expression of 
the Metaphysical stage of speculation: in it Law re- 
places the ancient Principle : in it Law is the deli- 
cate abstract Entity superadded to the phenomena. 
For observe : when you say it is according to a law 
that bodies gravitate, that fluids ascend to their 
level, or that the needle points towards the north, 
you are superadding to the facts an abstract entity 
(Law), which you believe coerces the facts, makes 
them to be what they are ; you give a generalized state- 
ment of the facts, and out of it you make an entity 
— a something ab extra. What is this law which pro- 
duces the phenomena, but a more subtle, a more imper- 
sonal substitute for the Supernatural Power which, in the 
Theological epoch, was believed to superintend all things, 

" To guide the whirlwind and direct the storm ?" 

If the Savage says it is a Demon who directs the 



WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF NATURE ? 53 

storm, does not the man of science say it is a Law 
which directs it ? These two conceptions, are they not 
identical ? 

When we consider that a man of the vast attainments 
and high position of Cuvier could argue as if Law really 
meant a superimposed regulation, it is time to object to 
the word. In his celebrated discussion with Geoffroy 
St. Hilaire, on the Unity of Composition in the Animal 
Kingdom, Cuvier so completely forgets himself as to 
ask, " Wherefore should Nature always act uniformly ? 
What necessity could have constrained her only to 
employ the same organic forms, and always to have em- 
ployed them ? By whom could this arbitrary rule have 
been imposed — -par qui cette regie arbitraire lui aurait- 
elle ete imposee ?" Thus we see the identity of organic 
processes is considered by him as an " arbitrary rule ;" 
he prefers a capricious one ! Elsewhere he returns to 
this argument, and declares that St. Hilaire' s " pre- 
tended identities" would, if true, reduce Nature to a 
sort of slavery !* 

Law, then, even in its Metaphysical acceptation, was 
too rigorous for Cuvier' s views ; he repudiated the idea of 
Nature being subject to it ; and he certainly could 
not have understood by the phrase, " law of nature," 
the mere " relation of co-existence and succession." 

It will be answered, perhaps, that men of science in 
general do not so conceive Law. They do not believe that 
the ever-living activities we in our profound ignorance 
christen " Nature," are moved according to certain 
celestial Statutes, with "pains and penalties" thereunto 
attached. But my objection is not the less valid. The 
current language of men habitually expresses this con- 
ception ; and although, when their attention is directed to 
it, when they begin rigorously to define terms, they call 
a Law the "expression of the relations of coexistence 

* Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Philosophie Zoologique, pp. 7 and 25. 



54 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

and succession/' yet their language about " breaking the 
laws of Nature/' acting " contrary to the laws of 
Nature/' indicates the misleading suggestions of the 
term. Much of their reasoning is vitiated by it. Thus, 
to go no farther than that form of the Development 
theory which assumes a certain fixed and definite Plan 
in the Universe — are not the Laws which work out 
this Plan supposed to be endowed with a mysterious 
prescience of the end they are to reach ? And what 
are prescient laws but metaphysical entities ? 

Nevertheless, that the Creator has subjected matter 
to certain immutable laws, is a conception which most 
men of science loudly proclaim ; and however they may 
refine upon terms, and sublimate the idea of Law, its 
human element cannot always be eliminated. But this 
seems to me a mechanical theory of the universe, both 
sterile and irreligious : it makes God necessary as a 
postulate, and there leaves him ! He having legislated 
for the Universe once for all, the laws are now suffi- 
cient to sustain the great life of the universe ! Accord- 
ing to the dynamic conception, in which God is Life, 
and the Universe his Activity, such notions of Law are 
profoundly erroneous; and I object therefore to the 
term Laws of Nature, because its direct meaning points 
to a mechanical conception of Nature, and because, 
however we may circumscribe its meaning, as expressive 
simply of the relations of co-existence and succession, 
the word Law does and must bring with it its human 
associations, and must therein be delusive. Rather than 
the popular, and, as one may call it, mechanical theory of 
the Universe, let us have the primitive spontaneous 
theory current during the earlier stages of Humanity : 
I can accommodate myself better with the old Deities — 
capricious and human as they are — than with the modern 
Laws; for the Deities at least were living powers. 
Spinoza and Goethe teach us something better than the 
mechanical theory, and to them I refer the reader. 



WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF NATURE ? 55 

Let us suppose it granted that the term Law is ob- 
jectionable. What shall be the substitute ? The diffi- 
culty of finding one has been very great. The "mind in the 
spacious circuit of its musing" alighted on terms all 
clogged with intrusive and delusive meanings, which 
unfitted them for replacing the old term. The one 
upon which I finally settled does not altogether satisfy 
me, but it fulfils the main requisites. 

I propose to call the relations of coexistence and suc- 
cession, usually named Laws, by the name of Methods. 
Etymologically, Method (neOoSoc) is a path leading on- 
wards, a way of transit. The Methods of Nature would 
therefore express the paths along which the activities of 
Nature travelled to results (phenomena) . I cannot avoid 
figurative language, and it is useful, because expressive ; 
but the conception here expressed is limited to the facts, 
with nothing superadded. Given the phenomena, we 
name the process by which they are called forth the 
Way of Nature — the path Forces take to that particular 
result. These paths may be intersected by the paths of 
other Forces. For instance, a spark will ignite dry 
gunpowder. Here a particular path is opened, along 
which Forces can travel to a particular issue (explosion) ; 
but if we throw water on the powder, the particular 
path is blocked up, and another issue is reached. Fire 
raises the temperature of water. Yet, if you pour water 
into a red-hot crucible containing liquid sulphuric acid, 
the temperature of the water is not raised; nay, so far 
from that, it is lowered to the freezing point, and in lieu 
of steam you have ice ! This is no contradiction to the 
Laws of Nature ; no law is broken ; all we can say is 
that the path is intersected by another path, thus : The 
rapid evaporation of the sulphuric acid produces cold so 
intense that the water which (the acid absent) would 
have hissed off in steam, now not only loses in evapo- 
ration all the heat given it by the fire, but also loses a 
portion of that heat which kept it liquid. And this is 



56 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

simply because the Method of Nature — the true path of 
her activity as regards sulphuric acid subjected to heat 
— is what we call rapid evaporation. 

To understand this conception of Methods, let us place 
ourselves at the most abstract point of view : let us con- 
sider Nature as the sum of Forces, which, because they 
are, and are Forces, must act, and must act along some 
pathway or other — and let us further consider these 
Forces about to leap into results — we can only consider 
them as travelling along certain definite paths to reach 
certain definite results. We thus see that the path of 
activity is one of the conditions of an act ; and that to 
the observed actions we superadd nothing not given in 
the actions themselves, by declaring such and such to 
be the Methods of Nature. 

I try various forms of expression, and various illustra- 
tions, to familiarize my meaning. Let me take one from 
the science of Mechanics. Matter is said to be inert : 
as a scientific artifice this may be useful in mechanics, 
but out of that domain to consider matter as incapable 
of spontaneously modifying the action of forces applied 
to it, is a remnant of the old Metaphysical notion, that 
all states of activity and movement are produced from 
without ; a notion in accordance with the phase of 
mental development when movement was explained by 
supernatural entities ; a notion in accordance with the 
mechanical theory of all matter being a " lifeless mass of 
clay in the potter's hands." I cannot bring myself so 
to consider it, but desire some considerable rectification 
of these gross conceptions of matter. I wauld view it 
as the phenomena of Force, and say that all matter, 
animate and inanimate, is everywhere in a state of 
spontaneous activity — of Life, in short ; a conception 
to which all modern science is rapidly tending. And 
having once so conceived it, we should conclude that 
the movements of matter are not obedient to Laws, 
but are the spontaneous activities of the Forces ; and 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 57 

what we call Laws are nothing but the paths, or 
Methods, along which the Forces move. 

That there are objections incident to the use of the 
term Methods, I am aware; is it possible to avoid 
objections? Moreover, I am not Quixotic Neologist 
enough to expect that the old term will fall out of use, 
even should a new term, wholly free from objection, be 
suggested. But I think this digression will not have 
been superfluous, if it serve to fix the students' attention 
on the characteristic effect of the conception of Law, 
and if it cause him, when he meets with the term Lav/, 
mentally to correct it into Method. Without at once 
altering our scientific phraseology, we may at once 
accustom our thoughts to Methods of Nature, and so 
familiarize ourselves with the positive spirit of regarding 
Nature. 

We shall now have to treat of the science of Mathe- 
matics ; and let me beg the reader to whom the follow- 
ing section may appear dry, because of his feeble interest 
in mathematics, to go resolutely through it nevertheless, 
for the sake of its illustration of the true scientific 
spirit. He needs no preliminary knowledge of mathe- 
matics to understand all that Comte will have to say. 



58 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



SECTION VI. 

philosophical considerations on the mathematical 

sciences. 

The object of Mathematical science is the measurement 
of magnitudes. Direct measurement, by simple imme- 
diate comparison of one magnitude with another known 
one, is seldom possible; and hence the necessity for 
the formation of a science of measurement. We dis- 
cover the relation of a magnitude, not susceptible of 
immediate measurement, to another which is susceptible 
of measurement — what function the one is of the other. 
Then, in any given case, we can, from the immediate 
measurement of the one quantity, indirectly arrive at 
the measurement of the other. Thus (to take a familiar 
example) the height from whence a body has fallen, and 
the time of its fall, have always a fixed relation. The 
two magnitudes axe functions of each other. Hence, in 
the case where we can measure the time of the fall of a 
body from a precipice, the time gives us the height ; and 
in an inverse case, we can tell the time a body would 
take to fall vertically from the moon to the earth, from 
our knowledge of the distance between the moon and 
the earth. So, also, from knowing the fixed relations 
between the sides and angles of a triangle, we can in 
any given case, from a direct measurement of some of 
these parts, ascertain the measurement of the remaining. 
The unknown magnitude, however, may not be ascer- 
tained by a knowledge' of its relation merely to one 
other ; it may be, that we require to know what function 
the unknown magnitude is of a second, and the second 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 59 

of a third, and the third of a fourth, and so on through a 
long chain ; none of the series except the last term being 
capable of immediate measurement. But the principle 
in all the cases, simple or complex, is identical. 

The exact definition of mathematical science may 
therefore be arrived at by assigning as its object the 
indirect measurement of magnitudes, and by saying 
that our aim in it always is to determine one magnitude 
from another, by means of the exact relations which 
exist between them. This way of defining mathematics, 
instead of giving the idea of an art only, as all defini- 
tions have hitherto done, characterizes directly a true 
science, and shows it, at once, to be composed of a vast 
series of intellectual operations, which may evidently 
become very complicated, by reason of the chain of 
intermediate terms which it may be requisite to establish 
between the unknown quantities and those allowing of 
direct measurement, — of the number of co-existing 
variables in a given question — and of the nature of the 
relations among all these various magnitudes presented 
by the phenomena under consideration. According to 
this definition, it is in the very spirit of mathematics 
always to regard all quantities which any phenomenon 
whatever can present to us, as mutual relations, so 
that they may be deduced from each other. Now, 
there is evidently no phenomenon that cannot give room 
for considerations of this kind ; whence naturally result 
the indefinite extent and even the strict logical univer- 
sality of mathematics. 

The foregoing explanations clearly justify the employ- 
ment of the name used to designate the science in 
question. This appellation, which has now received so 
fixed an acceptation, signifies by itself simply science in 
general. This designation, which in Greek usage was 
quite exact, seeing that they had no other real science, 
has been only retained by the moderns to indicate that 
mathematics is the science par excellence. And indeed 



60 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the definition given above (leaving out of account the 
different degrees of precision) is nothing but the defini- 
tion of every real science whatever : for has not each of 
them for its necessary aim to determine one phenomenon 
from another, by means of the relations which exist 
among them ? All science consists in the co-ordination 
of facts. If our different observations were entirely 
isolated, there would be no science. We may even say 
that, in so far as the different phenomena will permit, 
science is essentially destined to dispense with all direct 
observation, by allowing us to deduce the greatest possible 
number of results from the smallest possible number of 
immediate data. It is in this that lies the real use, 
in speculation, as well as in action, of the laws which 
we are discovering among natural phenomena. In this 
view, Mathematics only pursue, with regard to subjects 
truly within their province, the same kind of inquiries as 
are followed out in greater or less degree by each of 
the exact sciences, in their respective spheres, — with this 
difference, that mathematics carries them to the highest 
possible point, both with respect to quantity and quality. 

It is, then, by the study of mathematics, and it alone, 
that we can obtain a just and comprehensive idea of 
what a science really is. It is in that study we ought 
to leam precisely the general method always followed 
by the human mind in its positive researches; for 
nowhere else are questions resolved so completely, and 
deductions prolonged so far with extreme rigour. It is 
there, too, that our intelligence has given the greatest 
proofs of its power, since the ideas dealt with are the 
most entirely abstract possible in positive science. All 
scientific education which does not commence with this 
study, is therefore and of necessity defective at its 
foundation. 

Hitherto Comte has been speaking of mathematics in 
their totality. Now let us glance at their principal divi- 
sions. 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 61 

In the complete analysis of a mathematical question, 
the science is seen spontaneously separating itself into 
two great divisions. In the first place we have to ascer- 
tain the precise relations actually existing between the 
quantities under consideration. Thus, in order to deter- 
mine the height from which a body has fallen, from the 
time of the fall, we have to discover the equation between 
height and time. This constitutes the concrete part of 
mathematics. 

In the second place, we have a pure question of 
numbers before us. Having the equation, we have 
simply to determine the unknown numbers from the 
known. The height being a known multiple of the 
second power of the time (such being the equation in 
the particular case referred to), we have to perform the 
numerical operation of finding the one from the other. 
This is the abstract part of mathematics. 

Sometimes the concrete part is the more difficult ; 
sometimes the abstract • and these two great branches of 
mathematics may be considered as equal in extent and in 
difficulty. They are as distinct in their object as in the 
nature of the inquiries embraced by them. Concrete 
mathematics depend upon the kind of phenomena under 
consideration, and are essentially experimental, i. e. 
physical. Abstract mathematics are independent of the 
objects examined, except as to their numerical relations ; 
they are purely logical, i. e. rational. 

Concrete Mathematics, having for their object the dis- 
covery of the equations of phenomena, ought a priori 
to be composed of as many distinct sciences as there 
are categories of phenomena. Practically, however, the 
only two great categories of phenomena, of which we 
can always know the equations, are the Geometrical and 
Mechanical. Hence Concrete Mathematics subdivide 
themselves into the sciences of Geometry and of 
Mechanics. These two are natural fundamental sciences, 
inasmuch as all natural effects can be conceived as simple 



63 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

and necessary results either of extension or of move- 
ment. 

Abstract Mathematics, on the other hand, are composed 
of the Calculus in its widest sense,- — embracing all nume- 
rical operations from the simplest to the highest combi- 
nations of transcendental analysis. They have for their 
object the resolution of all questions of numbers, — start- 
ing from the equations yielded by concrete mathematics. 

It is of importance to notice that the fundamental 
division of mathematics is only an application of the 
general principle of Classification established in a pre- 
ceding section, viz. the hierarchy of the different positive 
sciences. If, in fact, we compare the Calculus on the 
one side, with Geometry and Mechanics on the other, 
we truly find, as respects the ideas considered in each of 
these two primary divisions of mathematics, the essen- 
tial characteristics of our Encyclopaedical Method. The 
analytical ideas of the Calculus are evidently more 
abstract, and also more general and more simple, than 
geometrical or mechanical ideas. Although the prin- 
cipal conceptions of Mathematical Analysis regarded 
under the historical point of view, were formed under 
the influence of geometrical or mechanical considera- 
tions (with whose progress that of the Calculus has been 
closely connected), Analysis, nevertheless, is, under the 
logical point of view, essentially independent of Geo- 
metry and Mechanics, while the latter are, on the 
contrary, necessarily founded on the former. 

Mathematical Analysis is therefore, according to the 
principles laid down, the true and rational basis of the 
complete system of our positive knowledge. It is the 
first and the most perfect of all the fundamental sciences. 
The ideas which form its subject-matter are the most 
universal, the most abstract, and the most simple that 
we can actually conceive. 

This peculiar characteristic of Mathematical Analysis 
allows us easily to explain why it affords so powerful au 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 63 

instrument when properly used, not only of giving 
additional precision to our real knowledge (which is self- 
evident), but also of establishing an infinitely more 
perfect co-ordination in the study of phenomena which 
permit its application. For, the conceptions having 
been generalized and simplified to the highest possible 
degree, so that a single analytical question resolved 
abstractly contains the implicit solution of a number of 
different physical questions, the result must necessarily 
be that the human mind will have a greater facility in 
perceiving the relations between phenomena which at 
first sight appear altogether isolated from each other, 
and from which we thus come, by considering it apart, 
to make out all they have in common. It is thus that 
in examining the progress of the intellect in the solution 
of important questions of Geometry and Mechanics, we 
see that, by the intervention of Analysis, there have 
naturally come to light the most frequent and the most 
unexpected similarities among problems which did net 
at first appear to present any connection, and which in 
the end we often regard as identical. How could we, 
for example, have perceived without the aid of analysis 
the least analogy between the determination of the 
direction of a curve to each of its points, and that of 
the velocity acquired by a body at each instant of its 
varied movement ? Questions, which, however different 
they may be, are only one in the eyes of a geometrician. 

And in like manner it is easy to understand the high 
state of perfection of Mathematical Analysis, compared 
with the other sciences, which is owing not to its signs, 
but to the extreme simplicity of its ideas. 

Comte concludes by showing the real extent of the 
domain of the mathematical science. In the purely 
logical point of view, it is necessarily universal. Every 
question can be conceived as being ultimately resolved 
into one of number. But its domain is practically cir- 
cumscribed to the less complex questions of Inorganic 
Physics, on two accounts ; — 



64 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

First: Because the different quantities presented in 
the more complex questions of Inorganic Physics, and 
in all Organic questions, do not permit fixed numbers, 
so as to give us the requisite equation; the numerical 
variability of their phenomena is extreme, and bids 
defiance to our powers of observing and fixing their 
value; and 

Secondly : Because even if we knew the mathematical 
law of each agent, we could not solve the corresponding 
mathematical problem, by reason of the great com- 
plexity of the conditions. 

Want of space prevents me from giving this part of 
Comtek exposition at length ; but the reader will be at 
no loss to find illustrations of both cases. 

Passing over the six profound and instructive chapters 
which follow — on Abstract Mathematics or Mathematical 
Analysis — we come to the preliminary chapter on 
Geometry. 

Geometry is not, as many have supposed, a purely 
rational science, independent of observation; certain 
primitive phenomena, not established by reasoning, but 
founded on observation, must constitute the basis of its 
deductions. It has a scientific superiority to Mechanics, 
and precedes it — because it is more universal, more 
simple, and more independent than Mechanics. Every 
body in nature may give rise to geometrical as well as 
mechanical questions ; and we never have the latter 
without the former ; but even if the universe were to 
become immoveable, we should still have geometrical 
questions to solve. 

This is the definition of geometry : it has to measure 
extension. But direct measurement of a solid or & 
surface by superposition of another solid or surface is, as 
a general rule, impracticable. There are always, how- 
ever, in the case of a solid or of a surface, certain lines 
whose measurement will give the measurement of the 
solid or surface. In like manner, a curved line may be 
measured by certain right lines related to it ; and right 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 65 

lines themselves may in their turn be measured by their 
relations to other right lines susceptible of immediate 
comparison. 

We can thus form a very precise idea of the science 
of geometry, by assigning it the general object of 
ultimately reducing comparisons of all species of exten- 
sions, solids, surfaces, or lines, to single comparisons of 
right lines, which are the only comparisons considered 
susceptible of being immediately made. 

The extent of the science is necessarily indefinite ; for 
the variety of lines, surfaces, and volumes is indefinite. 
To measure these various natural forms, as they offer 
themselves, we require to be prepared by a general 
study, and by a special examination of certain hypothe- 
tical and more simple forms. Hence it is not enough to 
confine ourselves, as the ancient geometricians did, to 
the study of certain simple forms directly furnished by 
nature, or of others deduced from them ; we prepare our- 
selves for all imaginable forms by the abstract or modern 
Geometry, which we owe to Descartes, and which 
reduced the invention of forms to that of equations of 
right lines. Each equation, and consequently each form, 
could thus be specially studied. These equations being 
infinite in number, prepare us for all forms. But there 
are certain geometrical questions which at first sight do 
not appear to fall within Comtek definition. These 
refer to the properties of particular lines or surfaces. A 
single form may have many properties, each of which 
may more conveniently than the others lead to a solution 
in a particular case. By copious illustration, he shows 
how these questions really and essentially serve the 
purpose of facilitating measurement. 

He then proceeds to point out the two different 
Methods which may be pursued in forming the Science 
of Geometry. He discards the phrases, Synthetical and 
Analytical Geometry, usually employed to designate 
them. The one would be better characteriser 1 as the 



66 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Geometry of the Ancients ; the other as the Geometry of 
the Moderns. But instead of these historical appellations, 
he employs the term Special Geometry, for the former ; 
General Geometry, for the latter. The radical differ- 
ence between them, hitherto but imperfectly compre- 
hended, seems really to consist in the very nature of 
the questions considered. In fact, Geometry supposed 
to be arrived at complete perfection, ought, as we have 
seen, on the one hand to embrace all imaginable forms, 
and on the other, to discover all the properties of each 
form. According to this double consideration, it is 
susceptible of being treated in two essentially distinct 
ways : either in grouping together all the questions, 
however different they may be, which concern the same 
form, and treating separately those relating to different 
bodies, whatever analogy may exist between them ; or, 
on the contrary, in uniting under one and the same 
point of view all similar questions to whatever different 
forms they may belong, and separating the questions 
relative to the properties of the same body that are really 
different. In a word, the ensemble of Geometry can be 
fundamentally arranged either with reference to the 
bodies studied, or with reference to the phenomena to 
be considered. The first plan, which is the most natural, 
was that of the Ancients ; the second, infinitely more 
rational, is that of the Moderns since the time of 
Descartes. Such is, in fact, the chief characteristic of an- 
cient geometry, where we study, one by one, different lines 
and different surfaces, never passing to the examination 
of a new form until we believe we have exhausted everv 
thing of interest which the known forms can give us. 
In this mode of procedure, when we undertake the study 
of a new curve, our labours upon the preceding ones 
do not directly afford any essential help, except in the 
geometrical exercise which the mind has obtained. In 
a word, the Geometry of the Ancients was, to use the 
expression above proposed, essentially special. In the 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 67 

system of the Moderns, Geometry is, on the contrary, 
essentially general ; that is, relative to any forms what- 
ever. It is easy to understand that all geometrical ques- 
tions of any interest can be proposed in reference to every 
imaginable form. The very few questions which are 
truly peculiar to this or that form are of the very least 
importance. This being granted, Modern Geometry 
essentially consists in making abstraction of every ques- 
tion relative to the same geometrical phenomenon in 
whatever body it may be considered, in order to treat it 
apart in a completely general way. The application of 
universal theories thus constructed for the special deter- 
mination of the phenomenon under consideration in each 
particular body, is no longer regarded but as a secondary 
work, to be executed according to invariable rules, and 
whose success is certain beforehand. But we attach no 
real importance except to the conception and the com- 
plete solution of a new question belonging to any form 
whatever. Operations of this kind are alone regarded 
as advancing science. The attention of Geometricians 
being thus freed from the examination of the particular 
properties of different forms, and wholly directed towards 
general questions, they have been enabled to rise to the 
consideration of new geometrical notions, which, when 
applied to the curves studied by the ancients, have led 
to the discovery of important properties that they had 
not so much as suspected. Such is Geometry, since the 
radical revolution effected by Descartes in the general 
system of the science. 

After pointing out the practical and incomparable 
superiority of the Modern over the Ancient method, 
Comte concludes by observing that we cannot dispense 
with the study of the latter. Historically speaking, it 
was required to enable Descartes to found the Modern 
method ; and dogmatically it serves as the preliminary 
basis to General Geometry, in so far as it furnishes to 
the latter those concrete equations which are the ground- 
work of its analytical processes. 



68 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

The 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th lectures are devoted 
to the subjects of special and general Geometry. Let 
us pass to the 15th, which is entitled " Philosophical 
considerations on the fundamental principles of rational 
Mechanics? 

Mechanical phenomena follow Geometrical pheno- 
mena, in the order of simplicity, generality, and inde- 
pendence. The philosophical character of the Science 
of Mechanics (or, more properly speaking, rational 
Mechanics) is influenced to a greater degree than 
Geometry by a remnant of the Metaphysical habits of 
thought. A complete confusion exists in many minds 
between the abstract and concrete points of view in this 
science. The distinction is not properly made between 
the parts of it that are purely physical and those that 
are purely rational. The progress of this science for a 
century past has been due so much to Mathematical 
Analysis that the notion of mechanics being mere cases 
of Analysis obtained an easy acceptance. Its funda- 
mental principles were supposed capable of establishment 
a priori— it being forgotten that Analysis is only a 
means of deduction, and that if Mechanics were founded 
on it solely, it would not be really applicable to the 
study of nature, as we find it to be. Comte's object in 
the 15th lecture is to free the subject from these Meta- 
physical notions, and make the separation between the 
experimental and rational parts of Mechanics apparent 
and distinct. 

Let us commence by pointing out precisely the general 
object of the science. We are in the habit of remarking, 
and justly so, that Mechanics eschew the consideration 
not only of the first causes of movements, which are 
beyond the pale of Positive Philosophy, but also the cir- 
cumstances of their production, which, although really 
forming an interesting subject of positive study in dif- 
ferent branches of Physics, are quite without the province 
of Mechanics. That science is confined to a considera- 
tion of movement in itself, without enquiring into the 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 69 

manner in which it was produced. Hence, forces are 
nothing in Mechanics but movements produced or tend- 
ing to produce themselves ; and two forces which impress 
on a body the same velocity in the same direction, are 
regarded as identical, however different their origin. 

But although this manner of viewing the subject 
is fortunately now quite familiar to us, it is still left 
to Geometricians to effect an essential reform, if not 
in the conception itself, at least in our habitual lan- 
guage, in order to get rid entirely of the ancient 
metaphysical notion of forces, and to make out more 
exactly than has yet been done, the true point of view 
of Mechanics. We can now in a very precise manner 
characterise the general problem of rational Mechanics. 
It consists in determining the effect which different forces, 
acting simultaneously, will produce upon a given body, 
when we know the simple movement which would result 
from the separate action of each of them ; or, taking the 
question inversely, in determining the simple movements 
whose combination would produce a known compound 
movement. This enumeration shows exactly what are, 
of necessity, the known and the unknown terms of any 
mechanical question. We see that the study of the 
action of a single force is, properly speaking, never 
within the domain of rational Mechanics, where it is 
always supposed to be known, because the second general 
problem is never susceptible of resolution, except as 
being the converse of the first. The whole of Mechanics, 
therefore, bears essentially on the combination of forces, 
whether there results from that concourse a movement 
whose different circumstances it is necessary to study, 
or whether the body, owing to their mutual neutraliza- 
tion, is in a state of equilibrium, whose characteristic 
conditions are required to be determined. These two 
general problems, the one direct, the other inverse, the 
solution of which constitutes the science of Mechanics, 
have an equal importance as respects their application ; 



70 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 






for sometimes the simple movement can be studied by 
observation, while the compound resultant can only be 
got at by theory, and vice versa. Comte gives several 
familiar illustrations of this. 

Having thus expounded the general aim of Mechanics, 
Comte next considers the fundamental principles on which 
the science rests. As a preliminary step, he examines at 
length an important and necessary philosophical artifice 
used in Mechanics, without which no proposition on the 
abstract laws of equilibrium or movement could be 
established. This is the assumption that all bodies 
are inert ; that is, not that they are subject to what is 
called the law of inertia (a different point altogether), 
but that they are of themselves incapable of sponta- 
neously modifying the action of forces applied to them. 
It is in reality a pure assumption, for every body, animate 
and inanimate, is, to a greater or less extent, in a state 
of spontaneous activity or movement. The contrary 
belief is a remnant of the old metaphysical notion that 
matter is by its nature essentially inert, and that all 
states of activity and movement are produced from 
without — a notion in keeping with that stage of the 
mental development wherein movement is explained by 
supernatural entities or causes, but absolutely incon- 
sistent with the positive point of view. Comte shows 
how the supposition of a body's inertness is made in 
Mechanics without impropriety. Movements in abstract 
mechanics being considered, as already observed, with- 
out reference to their mode of production, it matters not 
whether they come from within or from without. We 
can take the equivalent of the former in the latter. 

It would be superfluous to say much, to make mani- 
fest the indispensable necessity of supposing bodies in 
this state of complete passiveness, where we have to 
consider only the external forces which are applied to 
them (as, for example, the movement of a falling body 
by the assumed entity attraction), for establishing the 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 71 

abstract laws of equilibrium and movement. We may 
conceive that if it were necessary to take into account 
any modification whatever that a body in virtue of its 
natural forces can make on the action of these external 
agencies, we could not establish the least general pro- 
position in rational mechanics ; the more so, that this 
modification is far from being exactly known in the 
majority of cases. 

Hence, it is only by commencing with a complete ab- 
straction of them, so as to limit our thoughts to the re- 
action of the forces on each other, that it becomes possi- 
ble to establish a science of abstract Mechanics. At a 
subsequent stage we pass from it to concrete Mechanics, 
by restoring to the bodies the active properties which 
are by nature inherent in them, but which at the outset 
we held as non-existent. It is this restitution which 
occasions our chief difficulty in passing from the abstract 
to the concrete in Mechanics, — a difficulty which singu- 
larly limits in practice the important applications of this 
science, whose theoretical domain is, from its nature, 
necessarily indefinite. To give an idea of the extent of 
this fundamental obstacle, we may say, that in the 
present state of Mathematics there is but one natural 
and general property of bodies which we can conveniently 
take account of, — that one being gravity, terrestrial and 
universal. 

Hence the great applications of rational Mechanics 
have hitherto been really confined to celestial phenomena 
alone, and even to those of our own solar system; and here 
it is enough to consider only a general force of gravitation 
whose law is simple and well defined, and which, not- 
withstanding, presents difficulties that we cannot yet 
overcome completely, when we would rigorously take 
into account all the secondary actions susceptible of ap- 
preciable effects. We may thus conceive how complex 
questions must become when we pass to terrestrial me- 
chanics, where the greater part of the phenomena, even 



72 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the simplest of them, probably never will allow, seeing 
the feebleness of our resources, of a purely rational and 
at the same time exact study of them according to the 
general laws of abstract Mechanics, although the know- 
ledge of these laws (evidently indispensable on other 
accounts) can often lead to important indications. 

As to the fundamental physical laws on which Rational 
Mechanics are founded, they are, according to Comte, 
three in number. They are generalised facts, the result 
of observation. They are the points from which the 
deductions of Science start, and are not themselves to 
be established a priori, as metaphysicians believe. He 
exposes the insufficiency of the a priori theory in each 
case, and the confusion of ideas which prevails in conse- 
quence of metaphysical conceptions on the subject. 

The first of these laws is Kepler' s law of inertia, — a 
universal law, applicable to all bodies, animate and in 
animate. 

The second is Newton's law of action and reaction. 

The third is Galileo's discovery. 

" This third fundamental law appears to me/' he says, 
" to consist in what I propose to call the principles of 
independence or of co-existence of movements. It directly 
leads to what is popularly called the composition of 
forces. Galileo is, properly speaking, the real discoverer of 
this law, although he did not conceive it under the precise 
form which I have preferred giving it here. Considered 
under the simplest point of view, it comes to this general 
fact, that every movement strictly common to all the 
bodies of any system whatever, alters in no way the 
particular movements of those different bodies, as respects 
each other, — these movements continuing to be the 
same as if the ensemble of the system were immoveable. 
In order to give the enunciation of this important prin- 
ciple a rigorous precision requiring no qualification, it 
is necessary to conceive that all the points of the system 
describe equal and parallel straight lines at the same 



ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. 73 

time, and also that, whatever the velocity and direction 
of the general movement may be, it will not in the 
slightest degree affect the relative movements." 

After discussing those three physical and fundamental 
laws of rational Mechanics, Comte gives an account of 
the chief divisions of the science. 

The first and most important natural division of Me- 
chanics consists in distinguishing two orders of questions, 
according as the subject of inquiry is "the conditions 
of equilibrium," or "the laws of movement ;" whence 
Statics and Dynamics. A mere reference to this divi- 
sion suffices to make the necessity of it directly under- 
stood. Besides the real difference which evidently exists 
between these two fundamental classes of problems, it is 
easy to conceive a priori that Statical questions, from 
their nature, must generally be much more easy to treat 
than questions of Dynamics. For in the first case, as 
has been justly said, we make abstraction of the time ; 
that is to say, the phenomenon to be studied being 
necessarily instantaneous, we do not require to regard 
the variations which the forces of the system can undergo 
at different successive instants. It being, however, 
necessary to introduce the latter consideration into every 
dynamical question, it there forms a most fundamental 
element, and constitutes the principal difficulty. 

It follows, from this radical difference, that when we 
treat Statics -as a particular case of dynamics, the whole 
of the former corresponds only to by far the simplest 
part of the latter, — to that, namely, which relates to 
the theory of uniform movements. 

The importance of this division is very clearly veri- 
fied by the general history of the actual development of 
the human mind. We see, in fact, that the ancients 
had acquired a knowledge of some fundamental and 
very essential truths relative to equilibrium, both as to 
solids and fluids, as may especially be seen in the beauti- 
ful researches of Archimedes, although they were far from 



74 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

possessing a truly complete science of rational statics. 
Of Dynamics, on the contrary, they were entirely 
ignorant, even of the most elementary kind; the creation 
of this altogether modern science being due to Galileo. 

After this fundamental division, the most important 
distinction to be made in Mechanics consists in the 
separation, both in Statics and Dynamics, of the study 
of solids from that of liquids. The discussion of this 
division, which Comte considers as subordinate to the 
other, occupies the remainder of this introductory lec- 
ture on rational Mechanics. The subject of the 16th 
lecture is Statics generally, of the 17th Dynamics, and 
the 18th is devoted to the consideration of the general 
theorems of rational Mechanics. 

We must not follow this analysis into minuter detail. 
Indeed, only the extreme importance of Mathematics 
in its position in the hierarchy of the Sciences can 
warrant the length to which it has already extended. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON ASTRONOMY. 75 



SECTION VII. 

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON ASTRONOMY. 

The history of man's knowledge, the gradual growth of 
his conceptions on the subject of the stars, would be the 
history of the human mind. In Astronomy, from its 
very simplicity, we see with greater distinctness the pro- 
cession of human thought, from the time when the course 
of the stars seemed prophetic of man's destiny, and their 
wayward ever-varying configurations seemed to drag with 
them the strange vicissitudes of life, to the time when 
positive science ascertained the main laws of the heavenly 
mechanism. In it may be seen amusingly illustrated 
the theological tendency of interpreting all phenomena 
according to human analogies, the metaphysical tendency 
of arguing instead of observing — of substituting some 
logical deduction for the plain observation of a fact ; 
and finally, the positive tendency of limiting inquiry to 
accessible relations, and rejecting as idle all speculation 
which transcends our means. 

Comte has not only devoted some four hundred pages 
of his second volume to an exposition of the main points 
necessary to be understood in a philosophic survey of 
Astronomy, but has also devoted a separate work to the 
subject [Treatise of Popular Astronomy), justly con- 
sidering this science as one eminently calculated to 
render familiar his views of positive Method. In the 
remarks which are now to follow, Comte himself must 
be understood as speaking ; the sentences are trans- 
lations, or analyses of what may be found in his 
work : — 



76 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

And first, as to the possible extent of our sidereal 
knowledge. 

Sight is the only one of our senses through which we 
can acquire a knowledge of celestial objects. Hence, 
the only qualities which can become known to us are 
their forms, their distances, their magnitudes, and their 
movements ; and Astronomy, therefore, may properly be 
defined thus : — 

It has for its object the discovery of the laws of the 
geometrical and mechanical phenomena presented to us 
by the heavenly bodies. 

It is, however, necessary to add, that, in reality, the 
phenomena of all the heavenly bodies are not within the 
reach of scientific investigation. 

Those philosophical minds who are strangers to the 
profound study of Astronomy, and even astronomers 
themselves, have not yet sufficiently distinguished, in 
the ensemble of our celestial investigations, between the 
solar point of view, as I may call it, and that which truly 
deserves the name of universal. This distinction, how- 
ever, appears to me indispensable to mark precisely the 
line of separation between that part of the science 
which may be brought to a state completely perfect, and 
that which, without indeed being purely conjectural, 
must always remain in the stage of infancy, at least 
when contrasted with the first. The solar system, of 
which we form a part, evidently offers a subject of study 
whose boundaries are well marked ; it is susceptible of 
a thorough examination, and capable of leading us to 
the most satisfactory conclusions. But the idea of what 
we call the universe is, on the contrary, necessarily inde- 
finite, so that, however extensive we would suppose our 
well-grounded knowledge of this kind to become in the 
course of time, we should never be able to arrive at 
the true conception of the universe of stars. The 
difference is, at this moment, very striking indeed ; for, 
with a solar astronomy in the high degree of perfection 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON ASTRONOMY. 77 

acquired during the last two centuries, we do not even 
yet possess, in sidereal astronomy, the first and simplest 
element of positive inquiry, — the determination of the 
distances of the stars. Doubtless, we have reason for 
presuming (as I shall afterwards explain) that those 
distances will be determined, at least within certain 
limits, in the case of several stars; and that, con- 
sequently, we shall know divers other important 
elements, which theory is quite prepared to deduce from 
this fundamental given quantity, such as their masses, 
&c. But the important distinction made above will by 
no means be affected thereby. 

In every branch of our researches, and in all their chief 
aspects, there exists a constant and necessary harmony 
between the extent of our intellectual wants, and the real 
compass, present or future, of our knowledge. This har- 
mony is neither the result nor the sign of a final cause, as 
our common-place philosophers try to believe. It simply 
arises from this evident necessity : — on the one hand we 
have only need of knowing what can act upon and affect 
us, more or less directly ; and on the other, it follows, 
from the very fact of there being such influencing 
agencies in operation, that we are thereby sooner or 
later supplied with a sure means of knowledge. This 
relation is made manifest in a remarkable manner in 
the case before us. The most complete study possible 
of the laws of the solar system of which we form a part, 
is of high interest to us, and we have succeeded in 
giving it an admirable precision. On the contrary, if 
an exact idea of the universe is necessarily interdicted 
to us, it is plain that this is of no real importance, except 
to our insatiable curiosity. The daily application of 
astronomy shows that the phenomena occurring within 
each solar system, being those winch can alone affect its 
inhabitants, are essentially independent of the more 
general phenomena connected with the mutual action 
of the suns, almost like our meteorological phenomena 



78 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

in their relation to the planetary phenomena. Our 
tables of celestial events, prepared long beforehand, on 
the principle of taking no account of any other world in 
the universe save our own, have hitherto rigorously 
tallied with direct observations, however minute the 
precision we introduce into them. This independence, 
so palpable, is completely explained by the immense 
disproportion which we are certain exists between the 
mutual distances of the suns, and the small intervals 
between our planets. If, as is highly probable, the 
planets provided with atmospheres, as Mercury, Venus, 
Jupiter, &c, are really inhabited, we may regard their 
inhabitants as in some shape our fellow-citizens, seeing 
that from this sort of common country there would 
necessarily result a certain community of thoughts, and 
even of interests, while the inhabitants of the other 
solar systems must be entire aliens to us.* It is therefore 
necessary to separate more profoundly than has hitherto 
been customary, the solar from the universal point of 
view, — the idea of the world from that of the universe ; 
the first is the highest which we have been able actually 
to reach, and is, besides, the only one in which we are 
truly interested. 

Hence, without renouncing all hope of obtaining some 
knowledge of the stars, it is necessary to conceive 
positive astronomy as consisting essentially in the 
geometrical and mechanical study of the small number 
of heavenly bodies which compose the world of which 
we form a part. It is only within these limits that 
astronomy, from its perfection, merits the superior rank 
which it now holds among the sciences. 

And here Comte calls attention to a very important 
philosophical law, never distinctly recognised before his 

* It would be wrong to allow this passage to pass without 
qualification ; all considerations, astronomical and zoological, lead 
us to the conclusion that these planets are inhabited by beings 
totally unlike the inhabitants of our own. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON ASTRONOMY. 79 

enunciation of it — viz. : That in proportion as the phe- 
nomena to be studied become more complex, they ore, 
from their nature, susceptible of more extended and more 
varied means of exploration. 

In other words, the complexity of the phenomena 
implies a greater variety of sources through which they 
can be investigated. If man had a sense the less, the 
phenomena now perceived by that sense would be 
wanting to him ; if he had a sense the more, he would 
perceive more phenomena. There is not, however, an 
exact compensation between the increase of difficulty 
and the increase of our resources, so that, notwithstand- 
ing this harmony, the sciences which refer to the most 
complex phenomena continue no less necessarily the 
most imperfect, in accordance with the encyclopaedical 
scale established at the commencement of Comte's work. 
Astronomical phenomena, then, being the simplest, 
ought to be those for which the means of exploration 
are the most limited. 

Our art of observing is, in general, composed of three 
different processes : 

1st. Observation, properly so called — that is to say, 
the direct examination of the phenomenon, as it naturally 
presents itself. 

2nd. Experiment — that is to say, the contemplation 
of the phenomena, more or less modified by circum- 
stances artificially create'd by us, for the express purpose 
of a more perfect exploration. 

3rd. Comparison — that is to say, the gradual con- 
sideration of a series of analogous cases in which the 
phenomena become more and more simplified. 

The science of organised bodies, which embraces the 
phenomena the most difficult of access, is at the same 
time the only one that truly permits the union of the three 
modes. Astronomy, on the contrary, is necessarily 
limited to the first. And observation is there restricted 
to that of a single sense. All that it does — and it is all 



80 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 






that is required — is to measure angles, and reckon 
times elapsed. Observation, however indispensable, 
plays the most insignificant part in astronomy: it is 
Reasoning which forms incomparably the greatest portion 
of astronomical science, and this constitutes the prime 
basis of its intellectual dignity. It is our intelligence 
which constructs the greater number of astronomical 
phenomena, actual phenomena though they are. We 
neither, for example, see the figure of the earth nor the 
curve described by a planet. 

The combination of these two essential characteristics 
— extreme simplicity of the phenomena, with great 
difficulty in their observation — is what makes astronomy 
a science so eminently mathematical. On the one 
hand, the constant necessity we are under of deducing 
from a small number of direct measures, both angular 
and horary quantities, which are not themselves imme- 
diately observable, renders the continual use of abstract 
mathematics absolutely indispensable. On the other 
hand, astronomical questions being always problems of 
geometry or problems of mechanics, naturally fall within 
the province of concrete mathematics. And finally, not 
only as respects the geometrical problems do we have 
perfect regularity of astronomical figures, but, as respects 
the mechanical, we have admirable simplicity of move- 
ments taking place in a medium whose resistance has 
hitherto been left out of account without error, and 
under the influence of a small number of forces con- 
stantly subject to one very simple law ; and these cir- 
cumstances allow the application of the methods and the 
theories of Mathematics to a much greater extent than 
in any other case. There is perhaps not a single 
analytical process, a single geometrical or mechanical 
doctrine, which is not ultimately made use of in astrono- 
mical investigations, and the greater part of them have 
hitherto served no other primary purpose. Hence it is 
pre-eminently by a proper study of this application of 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON ASTRONOMY. 81 

them that we can acquire a just sentiment of the import- 
ance and the reality of mathematical speculations. 

Reflecting on the singularly simple nature of astro- 
nomical researches, and the consequent facility of 
applying the whole of our mathematical resources to 
them in the most extensive way, we understand why 
astronomy is now placed at the head of the natural 
sciences. It merits this supremacy — 1st. By the per- 
fection of its scientific character; 2nd. By the pre- 
ponderating importance of the laws which it discloses 
to us. 

After referring to several examples of the high 
practical utility of astronomy, Comte takes this science 
as an illustration of the fact, that the sublimest scientific 
speculations often, without premeditation, lead to the most 
ordinary practical and useful purposes, and he exposes 
the folly of those who would interdict all speculations 
except those which have obviously an immediate prac- 
tical object in view. 

On a closer examination of the present condition of 
the different fundamental sciences, we shall find that 
astronomy is the only one which is really and finally 
purged of all theological or metaphysical considerations. 
As respects Method, this is the first title it has to su- 
premacy. It is there philosophical minds can effectually 
study in what a true Science really consists ; and it is 
after this model that we ought to strive, as far as 
possible, to construct all the other fundamental sciences, 
having at the same time due regard to the differences, 
: more or less profound, which necessarily result from the 
| increasing complication of the phenomena. 

Those who conceive Science as consisting of a simple 
accumulation of observed facts, have only to consider 
astronomy with some attention to feel how narrow and 
superficial is their notion. In it the facts are so simple, 
and of so little interest, that one cannot possibly fail to 
observe that only the connexion of them and the exact 

G 



82 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 






knowledge of their laws, constitute the science. What, 
in reality, is an astronomical fact ? Nothing else, ordi- 
narily, than this : a star has been seen at a particular 
instant, and under a correctly measured angle ; a cir- 
cumstance, doubtless, of little importance in itself. The 
continual combination of these observations, and the 
more or less profound mathematical elaboration of 
them, characterize the science even in its most im- 
perfect state. In reality, astronomy did not take its 
rise when the priests of Egypt or Chaldea had, with 
more or less exactness, made a series of empirical obser- 
vations on the heavens, but only when the first Greek 
philosophers began to connect the general phenomenon 
of the diurnal movement with certain geometrical laws. 
The true and definite object of astronomical investigations 
always being to predict with certainty the actual state 
of the heavens at a future period, more or less distant, 
the establishment of the laws of the phenomena evi- 
dently affords the only means of arriving at this result ; 
the accumulation of observations cannot, of itself, be of 
any practical utility except as furnishing a solid foun- 
dation to our speculations. In one word, a true 
astronomy did not exist so long as mankind knew not, 
for example, how to foresee, with a certain degree 
of precision, by the aid at least of graphical process, anc 
in particular by certain trigonometrical calculations, the 
instant of the rising of the sun, or of a star, on a 
given day and at a given place. This essential charac 
teristic of the science has always been the same sine 
its origin. All the steps in its subsequent progres 
have only consisted in giving to these predictions a 
greater and greater certainty and precision, by borrowing 
from direct observation the least possible number of 
given terms for the purpose of foreseeing the most dis- 
tant future. No part of philosophy can manifest 
with greater force the truth of this fundamental 
axiom : every science has prevision for its object ; 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON ASTRONOMY. 83 

which distinguishes real science from simple erudition, 
limited to the narrative of past events without any view 
to a future. 

Not only is the true characteristic of a science more 
decidedly marked in astronomy than in any other 
branch of positive knowledge, but we may even say, 
that since the development of the theory of gravitation, 
it has attained the highest degree of philosophical per- 
fection that any science can ever pretend to, as respects 
Method, — the exact reduction of all phenomena, both in 
kind and in degree, to one general law, — provided 
always that we confine the remark to solar astronomy. 
The gradual complication of phenomena may lead us to 
conceive a similar perfection as absolutely chimerical in 
the other fundamental sciences. But it is the general 
type which all men of science ought constantly to have 
in view, as being the one to which they must approximate 
as far as the corresponding phenomena will allow. It 
is in astronomy that we perceive in all its purity what 
the positive explanation of a phenomenon is, without 
any inquiry as to the first or final cause of it • and, 
finally, it is there we must learn the true character, and 
the essential conditions, of truly scientific hypotheses, no 
other science having employed this powerful instrument 
so extensively, and at the same time so fittingly. 



84 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 



SECTION VIII. 

ASTRONOMY AND RELIGION. 

It need scarcely be remarked that many interesting 
details must necessarily be omitted in this analysis, in 
order not to extend it to a length incompatible with 
its introductory character. To complete what is indis- 
pensable to be said on the subject of Astronomy, it will 
be enough to indicate — 1st, the division of the science, 
2nd, its hierarchical position, and, 3rd, its illustration of 
the doctrine of final causes. 

In Mathematics, Comte establishes, as we have seen, 
the two capital divisions of Geometry and Mechanics : 
the one treating of space and the forms of things 
occupying space — i. e. treating of lines, surfaces, 
and solids, straight or curved; the other treating of 
motion and its laws. Astronomy is, par excellence, a 
mathematical science ; indeed, it may be called applied 
mathematics; and it forms the link between general 
Mechanics and terrestrial Physics, for it is simply a 
science of spaces, figures, and motion, brought down 
from the region of pure abstraction into that of reality 
by the introduction of a real agent — gravitation. 

Astronomy, conformably with its mathematical struc- 
ture, has also two capital divisions — 1st. Geometrical 
Astronomy, or celestial geometry, which, from its having 
possessed a scientific character so long before the 
other, still preserves the name of astronomy, properly 
so called; 2nd. Mechanical Astronomy, or celestial 
mechanics, of which Newton was the immortal founder, 
and which has received so vast and so admirable a de- 
velopment within the last century. 



ASTRONOMY AND RELIGION. 85 

In astronomy, properly so called, we have only to 
determine the form and magnitude of the heavenly 
bodies, and to study the geometrical laws according to 
which their positions vary, without considering these 
changes of position in relation to the forces which pro- 
duce them ; or, in more positive terms, to the elemen- 
tary movements on which they depend. Thus was it 
able to make, and actually did make, the most important 
progress before celestial mechanics began to exist • and 
even since that time, its most remarkable discoveries 
have been due to its own spontaneous development, as 
may be seen in the beautiful work of the great Bradley 
on Aberration and Nutation. Celestial mechanics, on 
the contrary, are, from their nature, essentially dependent 
on celestial geometry, without which they could not possess 
any solid foundation. Their object, in fact, is to analyze 
the actual movements of the stars, so as to connect them, 
according to the rules of rational mechanics, with the 
elementary movements governed by an universal and 
invariable mathematical law ; and proceeding from this 
law, to bring our knowledge of the real movements to 
a high degree of perfection, by determining them, 
a priori, from the calculations of general mechanics, 
— taking the least possible number of terms from direct 
observation, but yet always verifying them by it. It is thus 
that is established, in the most natural way, the funda- 
mental bond between astronomy and physics, properly 
so called ; a connexion now become definite, that several 
great phenomena form an almost insensible transition 
from the one to the other, as we see particularly in the 
theory of tides. But it is evident that what gives to 
celestial mechanics all their reality, is, their having 
started from the actual knowledge of real movements, 
furnished by celestial geometry. It is precisely from 
their not having been conceived in accordance with this 
fundamental relation, that all the attempts made before 
Newton to form systems of celestial mechanics, — and, 



86 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

among others, that of Descartes, — were necessarily 
illusory in a scientific point of view, however useful 
they may have been at the time under the philosophical 
aspect. 

The position of Astronomy in the hierarchical scale 
is so evidently the position given to it by Comte, that all 
readers will with him regard the title chosen by Newton 
for his great work as a trait of philosophic insight : 
Philosophic naturalis principia mathematica. Newton 
thus concisely pointed out that the general laws of 
celestial phenomena are the prime basis of the entire 
system of human knowledge. 

Moreover, Astronomy stands first in virtue of its 
absolute independence of all other phenomena. It stands 
aloof. It is in no way subordinated to any physical, 
chemical, or physiological phenomena. But, on the 
contrary, it is certain that physical, chemical, physio- 
logical, and even social phenomena, are essentially 
subordinate to astronomical phenomena, in a more or 
less direct manner, independently of their mutual co- 
ordination. The study of the other fundamental sciences 
can therefore only possess a truly rational character, 
when it is preceded by an accurate knowledge of the astro- 
nomical laws referring to the most general phenomena. 
How can the mind apprehend any terrestrial pheno- 
menon, in a really scientific manner, without in the 
first place considering what that earth is in the system of 
which we form part, — seeing that its position and its move- 
ments necessarily exercise a preponderating influence on 
all which happens in it ? What must our physical concep- 
tions be, and, as a consequence, our chemical and our 
physiological, without the fundamental notion of gravi- 
tation, which overrules them all ? To choose the most 
unfavourable example, where the subordination is the 
least apparent, we must admit, although at first it may 
appear strange, that even those phenomena which relate 
to the development of human society could not be con- 



ASTRONOMY AND RELIGION. 87 

ceived in a rational way without a previous consideration 
of the principal laws of astronomy. We may easily 
become sensible of this, by observing that if the different 
astronomical elements of oar planet, and as its distance 
from the sun, and the consequent duration of the year, the 
obliquity of the ecliptic, &c, were to undergo any im- 
portant changes, — (a result which in astronomy would 
have scarcely any other effect than that of modifying 
certain co-efficients,) — our social development would 
doubtless be notably affected, and even become impos- 
sible, if ever these alterations were to pass beyond a 
certain point. Comte is not afraid of meriting the re- 
proach of exaggeration by saying that social physics did 
not become possible as a science, until geometricians 
had demonstrated that the derangement of our solar 
system could never extend beyond gradual and very 
limited oscillations about a mean state necessarily inva- 
riable. 

That man would have a very imperfect idea of the high 
intellectual importance of the theories of astronomy, who 
limited his view to their necessary and special influ- 
ence on the different parts of Natural Philosophy. He 
must also consider the general effect which they directly 
have on the fundamental tendencies of our intelligence, 
to the renovation of which the progress of astronomy has 
contributed more powerfully than that of any other 
science. 

Consider only the religious aspect of Astronomy, and 
the truth of the foregoing remark will stand out ; and 
here, while concurring with all Comte says on the con- 
nexion between our astronomical knowledge and the 
whole series of conceptions on other subjects, I feel 
called upon to express the most decided and unequivocal 
dissent from his views on the connexion between Astro- 
nomy and Religion. What he says about final causes, 
every genuine Baconian will accept ; but what he says 
about astronomy destroying religion, can only be accepted 



88 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

by those who identify Religion with the theologies which 
from time to time obscure the true formula. 

" To those who are strangers to the study of the 
heavenly bodies, although frequently masters of the 
other parts of natural philosophy, astronomy has still 
the reputation of being an eminently religious science, 
as if the famous verse : The heavens declare the glory of 
God, still preserved all its value. To minds early 
familiarized with true philosophical astronomy, the 
heavens declare no other glory than that of Hipparchus, 
of Kepler, of Newton, and of all those who have aided 
in establishing their laws. It is, however, certain, as I 
have shown that all real science is in radical and 
necessary opposition to all theology, and this character- 
istic is more decided in astronomy than anywhere else, 
just because astronomy is, so to speak, more a science 
than any other, according to the comparison made above. 
No other has given more terrible shocks to the doctrine 
of final causes, generally regarded by the moderns as 
the indispensable basis of every religious system, 
although, in reality, it has only been a consequence of 
them. The simple knowledge of the movement of the 
earth must have destroyed the prime and real foundation 
of this doctrine, the idea of the universe subordinated 
to the earth, and consequently to man, — as I shall 
specially explain when treating of this movement. 
Besides, the accurate exploration of our solar system 
could not but dispel that blind and unlimited wonder 
which the general order of nature inspired, by showing, 
in the most sensible manner, and in various respects, that 
the elements of this system are certainly not disposed 
in the most advantageous manner, and that science 
permits us easily to conceive a happier arrangement. 
Finally, under a last and still more important point of 
view, — by the development of true celestial mechanics 
since Newton, all theological philosophy, even the most 
perfect, lost for ever its principal intellectual function, 



ASTRONOMY AND RELIGION. 89 

— the most regular order being thenceforth conceived as 
necessarily established and maintained in our world, and 
in the entire universe itself, by the simple mutual gravity 
of its different parts " 

In reference to this doctrine of final causes, Comte 
remarks, that much eloquent declamation might be spent 
on the great idea of the essential stability of our solar 
system, and yet it is a simple and necessary consequence 
of certain characteristics of that system, — the extreme 
smallness of the planetary masses in comparison with 
the central mass, the slight degree of eccentricity of 
their orbits, and the moderate mutual inclination of their 
planes. Besides, from the very fact that we do exist, we 
ought, a priori, to expect to find a disposition of matter, 
such as would permit of that existence, — which would be 
incompatible with the total want of stability. The 
alleged final cause amounts to this childish remark : 
that there are no inhabited planets in our solar system, 
except those that are habitable. In a word, we land at 
the principle of the conditions of existence, which is the 
true positive transformation of the doctrine of final 
causes, and which is much the superior to it in range 
and fecundity. 

Let me call attention to the one fundamental and 
extremely vicious assumption which lies at the basis of 
this unphilosophical outbreak against the grand old 
Hebrew phrase, so potent with rhythmic meaning, " The 
heavens declare the glory of God." The assumption 
is one which may be found lurking in every theology 
and metaphysic which ventures into the arena of debate ; 
and because it is begotten of intellectual pride, it will 
long be cherished by the intellect. The assumption 
is, That what we can conceive as the Perfect, must 
necessarily be the Perfect. In other words, it is the 
old sophistic canon of "Man the measure of all 
things." I repudiate this with all my soul and with 
all my strength ; and label it as the last refinement of 



90 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the Anthropomorphic tendency in the human mind — a 
tendency which, in the earlier epochs of Humanity 
invested gods with the Passions and Caprices, no 
less than with the Reason of man. At all times man 
has made God in his own image ; he has idealized and 
intensified his own nature, and worshipped that. This 
he has ever done ; this, perhaps, he ever will do. But 
we, who in serene philosophy smile condescendingly on 
the ill-taught barbarian whom we find attributing his 
motives, his passions, his infirmities to the Creator of 
all, we who " shudder" at the idea of such anthropo- 
morphism, how comes it that we also have fallen into 
the trap, and having withdrawn from God the investiture 
of Passion, persist in substituting for it an abstraction 
named Reason? The assumption is that God is pure 
Reason — omnipotent Intelligence ; and as intelligence is 
Lord and Master of this Universe, so, whatever our 
Intelligence recognises as perfect or imperfect, must be 
perfect or imperfect ! 

This anthropomorphism is active in almost all specul- 
lators. What they seek in the universe is not Life, 
but " evidences of design V If they can but make out 
the presence of a " skilful Designer," they believe they 
have done everything. With a mechanical theory of 
the universe, they demand proof of the existence 
of a great Mechanician who " contrives" so adroitly 
(it being necessary for Omnipotence to " contrive !") 
and having proved that, all is said ! I do not hesitate 
to declare my preference of the primitive spontaneous 
conceptions of the Deity, (which, gave him at least 
the grand idealization of the totality of our nature), 
to this weak abstraction of apart of our nature — this 
deification of Intellect. I would rather worship Jupiter 
than the metaphysician's " Reason." 

But if I object to that metaphysical aberration named 
"Natural Theology," founding its pretensions not on 
the true and devout interpretation of Nature, but on its 



ASTRONOMY AND RELIGION. 91 

interpretation of " contrivance" and " design," which it 
is clever enough to detect, and to applausively appreciate ; 
still more do I object to Comtek unwarrantable and 
(strange accusation !) equally metaphysical assumption 
couched in that phrase, " science permits us easily to 
conceive a happier arrangement." Science permits it ! 
Wherefore is Science to be final arbiter in questions 
wholly beyond its competence ? We can conceive sim- 
pler arrangements ; does it therefore follow that our 
simpler conceptions would be better ? What is sim- 
plicity, but a human convenience, and how is it better 
in esse than complexity ? It would seem to us simpler to 
have no serpents, no lions, no crocodiles, no fleas ; but 
what would those serpents, lions, crocodiles, and fleas say 
to such simplicity ? It would be simpler for man to be 
born at once and immortal ; but what has philosophy to 
do with such simplicity ? 

I agree with Comte that the pretended beauty of 
" design" manifested in astronomy is not a legitimate 
argument, but protest against his asserting that the 
elements of our universe are not arranged in the most 
advantageous manner, and that science could better 
have arranged them. With Lafontaine let us say : — 

" C'est dommage Garo que tu n 5 es point entre, 
Aux conseils cle Celui que preche ton cure: 
Tout aurait ete mieux.'' 

Science has no knowledge of these things;* to assume 
such a competence is to assume that "man is the 
measure of all," and that Intellect is the final arbiter 
of Life. 

Astronomy has destroyed theologies; and it must 

* Metaphysics is the science of things which cannot be known ; 
or, as some one wittily said, Part de s'egarer avec methode ; and the 
assumption referred to above assuredly belongs to this futile inge- 
nuity. 



.92 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

destroy every false theology. It must destroy it, if only 
by its emphatic condemnation of the capital point in 
all our theological systems, — viz., the subordination of 
the Universe to man. When the sun was regarded as a 
light to rule over the day, and the stars as only lesser 
lights, it was natural enough for man to suppose them 
created solely for his use. But that conception is no 
longer tenable. Now that man knows what a mere 
speck is his World in the awful Universe of Worlds, he 
feels himself to be more insignificant ; and, accompanying 
this feeling, the grander conception of the Universe and 
of God emerges eminent in his soul. 

I say, therefore, that if astronomy must destroy 
theology, it will not destroy, it will deepen Religion. 
There is no man in whom the starry heavens have not ex- 
cited religious emotion ; no man sweeps the heavens with 
his telescope without religious emotion ; whatever may 
be the litanies most suitable to his mind, under some 
form or other man cannot help worshipping when under 
this canopy of the " Cathedral of Immensity." However 
various the dialects and formulas into which the emotion 
may be translated, according to the various intellects 
of men, the emotion itself is constant; and the Last 
Man, gazing upwards at the stars, will, in the depths of 
his reverent soul, echo the Psalmist's burst — 

The Heavens declare the Glory of God ! 



THE SCOPE AND BEARING OF PHYSICS. 93 



SECTION IX. 

THE SCOPE AND BEARING OF PHYSICS. 

Physics, literally the science of Nature, are restricted to 
what, in ordinary language, is loosely termed Natural 
Philosophy. As the second of the Fundamental Sciences 
we have now to examine their position and bearing in Posi- 
tive Philosophy. Astronomy and Sociology stand as the 
Alpha and Omega of Science : the one setting forth the 
laws of heavenly bodies, the other setting forth the laws 
which regulate the great movements of Humanity. 
Between these stand Physics, setting forth as much as 
may be known of the mystery of this earth, and Physi- 
ology (or, more accurately, Biology) as much as may be 
known of Organic Life. In an inner centre, closely, nay 
inseparably, connected with both, stands Chemistry, or 
the science of molecular action. Thus is the circle com- 
plete. 

One need scarcely say that all such divisions are 
arbitrary. Nature admits of no distinct lines of demar- 
cation. You cannot say, Here ends the inorganic world, 
and here begins the organic ; you cannot say, Here we 
see the vegetable domain cease, and here the animal 
commence ; but you can and do say, This rose is a plant, 
This lion is an animal. Therefore, although Chemistry 
is inseparable from Physics, and Biology is inseparable 
from Chemistry, when analysis conducts us to ultimate 
principles, yet demarcations, such as those just hinted, 
are necessary and convenient. 

Physics did not (according to Comte) begin definitely 
to disengage itself from Metaphysics, and take a truly 
positive character, until after the great discoveries of 



94 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Galileo on the fall of heavy bodies ; whereas Astronomy 
was really positive, under the geometrical point of 
view, from the period of the foundation of the School 
of Alexandria. Here, therefore, we ought not only to 
look for the direct influence of greater complication in 
the phenomena, but also expect to find the scientific 
condition of Physics much less satisfactory than that of 
Astronomy, as well under the speculative point of view, 
in respect of the purity and the co-ordination of their 
theory, as under the practical point of view, in regard 
to the extent and exactness of the predictions which 
result from them. In truth, the gradual formation of this 
science during the two last centuries was owing to the 
philosophical impulse of the precepts of Bacon, and the 
conceptions of Descartes, which necessarily made its 
general progress much more rational, by directly estab- 
lishing the fundamental conditions of the universal Posi- 
ti m Method. But, however important this great power 
may have been in accelerating the natural progress of 
physical philosophy, the long dominion of primitive 
metaphysical habits was so absolute, and the positive 
spirit, — which only use could develope, — remained so 
imperfectly characterised, that this science could not in 
so short a time acquire complete positivism — a state not 
attained by astronomy itself, as respects the mechanical 
part of it, before the middle of this period. 

Thus, starting from the point where our philosophical 
ex imination has now arrived, we find, in the different fun- 
damental sciences remaining for our consideration, more 
and more profound traces of the metaphysical spirit 
from which astronomy, alone of all the branches of 
natural philosophy, is completely freed. This anti- 
scientific influence will not be found limited to details 
of slight importance. We shall find that it notably 
alters the fundamental conceptions of science, which 
has not, even in the case of physics, yet taken entirely 
its definite philosophical character. 



THE SCOPE AND BEARING OF PHYSICS. 95 

And first, as to the extent of the domain of the science 
of Physics. 

Like Chemistry, Physics have for their object the dis- 
covery of the general laws of the Inorganic world. The 
study of these laws is completely distinct from that of the 
Science of Life, as from that of Astronomy, which is con- 
fined to the consideration of the forms and movements of 
the great bodies of nature. But the distinction (a real and 
indispensable one) between Physics and Chemistry is 
less precisely marked, and modern discoveries are render- 
ing it still more difficult. There are, however, three 
general considerations which, taken together, make the 
division between the two sciences quite distinct. 

The first consists in the characteristic connection 
between the necessary generality of truly physical ques- 
tions, and the speciality no less inherent in investigations 
purely chemical. Even the philosophers of the seven- 
teenth century had some glimpse of tins. All the con- 
ceptions of physics, properly so called, are more or less 
applicable to all bodies whatever ; while, on the contrary, 
every chemical idea necessarily relates to an action 
peculiar to certain substances, whatever resemblances 
we may otherwise find between the different cases. 
This fundamental contrast between the two categories 
of phenomena is always distinctly marked. Weight, 
for example, is shown in all bodies • so also are the phe- 
nomena of thermology, acoustics, optics, and even of 
electricity; there being only an inequality of degree 
in their manifestation. The compositions and decom- 
positions of chemistry, on the other hand, show radi- 
cally specific properties, varying both in elementary and 
compound substances. The apparent exception to the 
generality of physical studies, in the case of magnetism, 
was dispelled by the discovery of its phenomena being 
only modifications of the undeniably general pheno- 
mena of electricity. 



96 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

The second elementary consideration distinguishing 
Physics from Chemistry is of less importance, and in- 
deed it rests on less firm grounds than the preceding 
one, although susceptible of being turned to proper 
use. It consists in this, that the phenomena consi- 
dered in physics refer to the masses, and in che- 
mistry to the molecules ; whence the habitual deno- 
mination of molecular physics, formerly given to the 
latter science. 

But purely physical phenomena are often molecular. 
The weight of a mass, for example, is the total weight 
of all the separate molecules in it. Again, in chemistry, 
a certain mass is required to exhibit chemical action. 
Still there is much truth in the distinction. In order 
to produce chemical phenomena, one, at least, of the 
bodies between which the chemical action is to take 
place, must be in a state of extreme division, and even, 
most frequently, in a state of true fluidity ; and without 
this, the action will not be produced : while, on the con- 
trary, this preliminary condition is never indispensable 
to the production of any physical phenomena, properly 
so called, but is even a circumstance always unfavour- 
able to it, although it is not sufficient constantly to pre- 
vent it. 

Finally, we may thus distinguish physical phenomena 
from chemical. In the former, the constitution of the 
bodies — that is to say, the mode of arrangement of their 
particles — may change ; their nature — that is to say, the 
composition of their molecules — remains constantly unal- 
terable. In the latter, on the contrary, not only is there 
always a change of state as respectsjsome one of the bodies 
in question, but the mutual action of these bodies neces- 
sarily alters their nature : and it is a modification of this 
sort which essentially constitutes the phenomenon. The 
greater number of the agents considered in physics are 
doubtless susceptible, when their influence is very energetic 



THE SCOPE AND BEARING OF PHYSICS. 97 

or very prolonged, of effecting, by themselves, some 
compositions and decompositions perfectly identical 
with chemical action, properly so called ; and this is 
the reason why there is so natural and so direct a 
connexion between Physics and Chemistry. But here 
the phenomena pass from the domain of the first science, 
and enter that of the second. 

The preceding considerations suffice to furnish a pre- 
cise definition of the proper object of Physics, when 
strictly circumscribed within their natural limits . In Phy- 
sics we study the laws which govern the general properties 
of bodies ordinarily viewed in their mass, and constantly 
placed in circumstances capable of maintaining intact the 
composition of their molecules, and most frequently even 
their state of aggregation. To act up to the true spirit 
of philosophy, we always require that every science 
worthy of the name have for its aim, the establishing, 
on sure grounds, of a corresponding order of predictions. 
In order, therefore, to complete the definition, it is 
indispensable to add, that the ultimate object of the 
theories of physics is to foresee, as exactly as possible, 
all the phenomena which may be presented by a body 
placed in any given circumstances, excluding always 
those which could alter its nature. It is not to be 
doubted that this end is rarely attained in a complete 
and perfectly precise manner • but this is only because 
the science is imperfect. Were its actual imperfection 
much greater than it is, such would still be its necessary 
destination. 

From this simple and summary exposition of the 
general object of physical investigations, it is easy to 
perceive that they necessarily present greater complexity 
than astronomical studies. The latter are limited to the 
two most simple and elementary aspects of the bodies 
there considered, — namely, their forms and their move- 
ments. In Physics, on the contrary, the bodies are 
accessible to all our senses, — the general conditions 



98 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

which characterise their actual existence are considered, 
and they are studied under a great number of different 
and mutually complicated relations. Physics must 
inevitably be less perfect than Astronomy ; and were it 
not for the extension of the means of exploration in the 
former, in accordance with the law mentioned in a pre- 
vious section, — the increased imperfection of Physics 
might be conceived, a priori, as rendering a science im- 
possible. The method of Comparison is not more appli- 
cable in Physics than in Astronomy ; but it is otherwise 
with Experiment. Observation (no longer confined to 
that of a single sense) and Experiment have their most 
complete development in Physics. In Organic Physics, 
it is impossible to obtain the requisite conditions of a 
perfect experiment. The freedom of choice of the ex- 
ample (whether natural or artificial) best fitted to mani- 
fest the phenomena, constitutes the chief characteristic of 
the art of philosophical Experiment ; and this freedom 
is found more in Physics than in Chemistry. It is to 
the development of Physics that the creation of the art of 
Experiment is due. 

Next to the rational use of the Experimental Method, 
the application, more or less complete, of Mathematical 
Analysis forms the principal basis on which the perfec- 
tion of Physics rests. It is here that the actual range 
of this Analysis in natural philosophy finds its limit ; and 
in the sequel of Comtek work it is shown how chimeri- 
cal it would be to expect that its domain will be further 
extended, even to Chemistry, with any real efficacy. 
The comparative fixity and simplicity of physical pheno- 
mena ought naturally to permit an extensive employment 
of Mathematics, although they are much less adapted 
to physical than to astronomical studies. This applica- 
tion may occur under two very different forms, — the one 
direct, the other indirect. The first takes place when 
the phenomena are such as to permit of our immediately 
finding in them a fundamental numerical law, which 



THE SCOPE AND BEARING OF PHYSICS. 99 

becomes the basis of a more or less prolonged series of 
analytical deductions; as in the eminent example of 
Fourier when he created his beautiful mathematical 
theory of the distribution of caloric, founded altogether 
on the principle of the thermological action between two 
bodies being proportional to the difference of their tem- 
peratures. Most frequently, on the contrary, mathe- 
matical analysis is introduced only indirectly ; that is, 
after the phenomena have been connected with some 
geometrical or mechanical law by means of a course of 
experiment ; and then, it is not to Physics, properly 
speaking, that the analysis is applied, but to geometry, 
or mechanics. Among other examples, we may cite the 
theories of reflection and of refraction, as respects geo- 
metry; and those of weight or of harmonics, as respects 
mechanics. 

The application of mathematics to physics ought only 
to take place, and that with extreme circumspection, 
when assurance has been obtained of the reality of the 
physical facts from which the mathematical deductions 
are to be made. The neglect of this rule has occa- 
sioned numerous analytical labours founded on wild 
hypotheses or on chimerical conceptions, and has often 
converted physical studies into mere mathematical exer- 
cises. To avoid these evils, natural philosophers ought 
themselves to be familiar with as much of mathematics as 
would enable them to make the proper application of 
Mathematics to physics, instead of leaving it to mathe- 
maticians, destitute of true ideas on the nature of phy- 
sical inquiry. 

Comte — whose language has here been almost verbally 
employed — adds, that the services rendered by Mathe- 
matics to Physics have been immense. They have given 
to Physics that admirable precision and perfect co-ordina- 
tion w T hich always characterise their employment. But 
still, he remarks, they are less applicable to Physics than 
to Astronomy. In Physics, we have, more or less, 



100 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

to overlook the essential conditions of the problem, and 
in so far to alter the actual nature of the phenomena, 
in order to permit the use of analysis ; while, to ensure 
correctness and reality in physical studies, it is necessary 
to have recourse both to Experiment and Analysis, — 
checking and aiding the latter by the former, without 
subordinating the one to the other. 



ON THE INFLUENCE AND METHOD OF PHYSICS. 101 



SECTION X. 

ON THE INFLUENCE AND METHOD OF PHYSICS. 

The very destination of Positive Philosophy being that 
of influencing the whole intellectual system of man, who 
moves through life by its aid, Comte's summary indi- 
cation of the part played by Physics in that action must 
not be omitted. 

In the first place, its influence is necessarily less pro- 
found than that of the two terminal sciences, Astronomy 
and Biology. These two sciences standing at opposite 
extremes, directly determine our ideas respecting the 
two universal and correlative subjects of all our concep- 
tions — the world and man ; and hence, from their veiy 
nature, they must spontaneously influence human 
thought in a more decided way than can be done by the 
intermediate sciences, Physics and Chemistry, however 
indispensable the intervention of the two latter may be. 
The influence of Physics and Chemistry, however, on 
the general development and the definite emancipation 
of human intelhgence, is nevertheless decided. To speak 
only of Physics, it is evident that the fundamental 
character of absolute opposition between positive philo- 
sophy and theology, or metaphysics, makes itself very 
strongly felt, although it is less complete than in the case 
of Astronomy, by reason of the inferiority of Physics in 
scientific perfection. For this comparative inferiority, 
of which vulgar thinkers are little sensible, we doubtless 
have a full equivalent, so far as the present question is 
concerned, in the much greater variety of the pheno- 
mena embraced by physics. In fact, the intellectual 



102 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

history of the few last centuries makes it manifest that 
this science has been the principal scene of the general 
and decisive struggle of the Positive spirit against the 
Metaphysical ; in astronomy, the dissensionh as been less 
marked, and there positivism has triumphed almost 
spontaneously, except on the subject of the earth's 
movement. 

There is another important fact to be noticed here. 
It is in Physics that natural phenomena first begin to be 
really modifiable by human intervention. This power of 
modification is impossible in astronomy ; but we shall 
see it manifesting itself more and more in all the sciences 
of the encyclopedical series. If the extreme simplicity 
of astronomical phenomena had not necessarily per- 
mitted our carrying scientific prevision in their case to 
the greatest degree of exactness, it would have followed 
from the impossibility of our interfering in any way in their 
accomplishment, that their radical enfranchisement 
from all theological and metaphysical supremacy would 
have been a difficult process. But perfect prevision 
effectually served this end in a different way from the 
small virtual action of man upon all the other pheno- 
mena of nature. As respects the latter, on the con- 
trary, this action, however limited it may be, obtains, by 
way of compensation, a high philosophical importance, 
on account of our inability to bring the rational pre- 
vision of them beyond a slight degree of perfection. 
The fundamental character of all theological philosophy 
is to conceive phenomena as subjected to supernatural 
volition, and, consequently, as eminently and irregularly 
variable. Now, the public cannot enter into any pro- 
found speculative discussion respecting the superiority of 
the different philosophical points of view; and those 
theological conceptions can only be subverted finally by 
means of these two general processes, whose popular suc- 
cess is infallible in the long run : 

1. The exact and rational prevision o^ phenomena ; 




ON THE INFLUENCE AND METHOD OF PHYSICS. 103 

and 2. the possibility of modifying them, so as to pro- 
mote our own ends and advantages. 

The former immediately dispels all idea of any " direct- 
ing volition ;" and the latter leads to the same result 
under another point of view, by making us regard 
tins power as subordinated to our own. The first pro- 
cess is the more philosophical, and most easily carries 
popular conviction with it, when it is completely appli- 
cable, which, however, has scarcely been the case hitherto, 
except with celestial phenomena ; but the second, when 
its reality is very evident, meets no less necessarily with 
universal assent. 

Illustrations will occur in abundance to any well- 
stored memory. I will mention, as an obvious and 
striking example, the destruction of the theological 
theory of thunder by Franklin's discovery. If man 
could thus take the lightning in his hand, and direct its 
course as he pleased, it could not long be believed to be 
the flashing wrath of a deity ! 

Passing from this topic to that of the Method of 
Physics, considered in their hierarchical position, Comte 
bids us remember that the speculative perfection of a 
science is to be principally measured by these two 
distinct but co-relative properties — co-ordination and 
power of prevision ; the latter being the most decisive 
criterion, as it is the principal object of every science. 

In the first place, whatever may be the future 
progress of Physics, they must evidently continue, under 
both points of view, very inferior to Astronomy, owing 
to the variety and complexity of their phenomena. In 
lieu of that perfect mathematical harmony and unity 
which we have admired in the science of the heavenly 
bodies, Physics present us with numerous branches 
almost completely isolated from each other, and having 
frequently no other than a feeble and equivocal connec- 
tion between their principal phenomena. And then, 
instead of the rational and precise prevision of celestial 
events at any period whatever, made from a very small 



104 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

number of direct observations, our foresight here is 
quite limited in its range, and, when certainty is desired, 
scarcely ever admits of our leaving present circum- 
stances out of view. 

For similar reasons, the speculative superiority of 
Physics over the rest of natural philosophy is equally 
incontestable. We may also observe that the philo- 
sophical study of Physics, regarded as a general 
means of intellectual education, possesses a special 
utility, not to be found elsewhere to the same extent ; it 
enables us completely to apprehend the fundamental art 
of Experiment, which is particularly adapted to physics. 
It is there that true philosophers, whatever the pecu- 
liar object of their habitual pursuits, must always 
learn what constitutes the true experimental spirit; 
what are the characteristic conditions requisite in expe- 
riments which are capable of showing unequivocally the 
actual laws of phenomena ; and finally, how to form a 
just conception of the ingenious precautions by which 
we may prevent any interference with the results of a 
process of such delicacy. Every one of the fundamental 
sciences presents the essential characteristics of the 
Positive Method, which are necessarily manifested in 
them in a degree more or less decided : but besides this, 
each of them as naturally shows some philosophical 
indications belonging peculiarly to itself, as we have 
already remarked in the case of astronomy ; and it is 
always at their source that such conceptions of universal 
logic ought to be examined. 

It is to Mathematics alone that we are indebted for 
our knowledge of the elementary conditions of posi- 
tivism. Astronomy characterises with precision the true 
study of nature ; Physics specially present us with the 
theory of Experiment ; it is from Chemistry that we 
must borrow the general art of Nomenclature ; and 
finally, the science of Organised Bodies can alone unfold 
to us the true theory of Classifications. 

Newton's assertion, Hypotheses non Jingo — I make no 



ON THE INFLUENCE AND METHOD OF PHYSICS. 105 

hypothesis, — has been incessantly repeated by men who 
fancy themselves Baconian thinkers when they restrict 
their incompetence to what they call " facts." No reader 
of these pages need be told that such ideas of science 
are utterly irrational. Newton himself gives it no 
countenance. His own great discovery was an Hypo- 
thesis at first, and only became a Theory after verifica- 
tion. Kepler made nineteen hypotheses respecting the 
form of the planetary orbits, and abandoned them one 
by one, till he settled on the elliptical form, which, on 
verification, proved correct, and then was no longer an 
hypothesis. 

Every one who has made any original scientific 
researches must have a vivid sense of the indispensable 
utility of Hypothesis as an artificial aid, accompanied 
by an equally vivid sense of the necessity of distinctly 
understanding its purpose and limits ; and to this end I 
emphatically urge the reader to study what Comte and 
John Stuart Mill [Logic, book iii. ch. xiv.) have written 
on the subject. MilTs Logic the reader has, or ought 
to have, at hand. Comte teaches thus : — A law of 
nature can only be discovered by Induction or Deduc- 
tion. Often, however, neither method is of itself suffi- 
cient without our previously making temporary suppo- 
sitions regarding some of the very facts of which we are 
in search. This indispensable mode of proceeding has 
been most fruitful in its results ; but, from neglect of the 
condition on which it can be rightly used, the progress 
of true science has been much obstructed. This condi- 
tion, but vaguely analysed as yet, may be thus stated : — 
that we must never imagine any hypotheses which are 
not by nature susceptible of a positive verification sooner 
or later, and which shall have exactly that degree of 
precision ascertainable in the study of the corresponding 
phenomena. In other words, truly philosophical hypo- 
theses must always present the character of simple 
anticipations of what experience and reasoning are 



108 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

capable of at once discovering when the circumstances 
of the problem are more favourable. 

But if we would pretend to attain, by means of an 
Hypothesis, anything that is in its nature altogether 
inaccessible to observation and to reason, we should 
overlook the fundamental condition of all Hypothesis ; 
and our supposition, transcending the real sphere of 
science, would become misleading and dangerous. 

It would become dangerous, because every positive 
thinker agrees that our scientific inquiries are restricted 
to the analysis of phenomena, to discover their Laws, 
and in no sense to discover their Causes, essential or 
final. And how should a pure supposition, such as an 
Hypothesis, be possessed of a deeper plummet line to 
fathom the unfathomable ? Therefore every hypothesis 
which traverses the limit of positive science can only 
lead to interminable discussion, never to solid agreement. 

The different hypotheses still employed by natural 
philosophers are clearly distinguishable into two classes : 
the one, as yet small in extent, simply refers to the laws 
of the phenomena : the other, which plays a much more 
extended part, relates to the determination of the general 
agents supposed to produce the different kinds of pheno- 
mena. Now, according to the rule just laid down, the 
first class is alone admissible ; the second, essentially 
chimerical, has an anti-scientific character, and can only 
obstruct the real progress of physics. In astronomy, 
the fir3t kind of hypothesis is alone employed ; the use 
of the second was long ago exploded. We no longer 
suppose the existence of chimerical fluids to explain the 
movement of the heavenly bodies. Why, then, in 
physics use hypotheses without the requisite precautions, 
and imagine fluids and ethers, invisible, intangible, im- 
ponderable, and inseparable from the substances to 
which they impart their virtues, in order to explain the 
phenomena of heat, light, electricity, magnetism ? The 
very fact that the existence of these pretended fluids is, 



ON THE INFLUENCE AND METHOD OF PHYSICS. 107 

6*0111 their nature, incapable of negation or affirmation, 
shows that they are beyond the reach of positive control. 
You might as well admit the existence of the elementary 
spirits of Paracelsus, of angels, and of genii ! The 
assumption of these Entities in science, so far from help- 
ing to explain phenomena, has the very reverse effect • 
it increases the number of things requiring explanation. 
For whence come the properties of these fluids? On 
what do they depend ? It is evident that they demand 
explanation as much as the phenomena they are intro- 
duced to explain ; they are the tortoise-back upon which 
the Indian's world is supposed to rest ! Newton could not 
conceive attraction otherwise than through the agency 
of an ether. No one believes in that attracting medium 
now ; yet men of science, especially in England, will be 
up in arms at the heresy of supposing light, heat, or 
electricity, can be robbed of their mysterious fluid ! 
Because it will sound heretical, I strengthen Comtek 
position by the following passage from John Mill : — 

" The prevailing hypothesis of a luminiferous ether I 
cannot but consider, with M. Comte, to be tainted with 
the same vice. It can never be brought to the test of 
observation, because the ether is supposed wanting in all 
the properties by means of which our senses take cog- 
nizance of external phenomena. It can neither be seen, 
heard, smelt, tasted, nor touched. The possibility of de- 
ducing from its supposed laws a considerable number of 
the phenomena of light is the sole evidence of its exist- 
ence that we have ever to hope for ; and this evidence 
cannot be of the smallest value, because we cannot 
have, in the case of such an hypothesis, the assurance 
that if the hypothesis be false it must lead to results at 
variance with the true facts. 

" Accordingly, most thinkers of any degree of sobriety 
allow, that an hypothesis of this kind is not to be re- 
ceived as probably true because it accounts for all the 
known phenomena ; since this is a condition often ful- 



108 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 

filled equally well by two conflicting hypotheses ; and 
if we give ourselves the license of inventing the causes 
themselves as well as their laws, a person of fertile imagi- 
nation might devise a hundred modes of accounting 
for any given fact, while there are probably a thousand 
more which are equally possible, but which, for want of 
anything analogous in our experience, our minds are 
unfitted to conceive. But it seems to be thought that 
an hypothesis of the sort in question is entitled to a 
more favourable reception, if, besides accounting for all 
the facts previously known, it has led to the anticipation 
and prediction of others which experience afterwards 
verified ; as the undulatory theory of light led to the 
prediction, subsequently realized by experiment, that 
two luminous rays might meet each other in such a 
manner as to produce darkness. Such predictions and 
their fulfilment are, indeed, well calculated to strike the 
ignorant vulgar, whose faith in science rests solely on 
similar coincidences between its prophecies and what 
comes to pass. But it is strange that any considerable 
& cress should be laid upon such a coincidence by scien- 
tific thinkers. If the laws of the propagation of light 
accord with those of the vibrations of an elastic fluid in 
as many respects as is necessary to make the hypothesis 
a plausible explanation of all or most of the phenomena 
known at the time, it is nothing strange that they should 
accord with each other in one respect more. Though 
twenty such coincidences should occur, they would not 
prove the reality of the undulatory ether ; it would not 
follow that the phenomena of light were results of the 
laws of elastic fluids, but at most that they are governed 
by laws in some measure analogous to these ; which, 
we may observe, is already certain, from the fact that the 
hypothesis in question could be for a moment tenable. 
There are many such harmonies running through the 
laws of phenomena in other respects radically distinct. 
The remarkable resemblance between the laws of light 



ON THE INFLUENCE AND METHOD OF PHYSICS. 109 

and many of the laws of heat (while others are as re- 
markably different,) is a case in point. There is an 
extraordinary similarity running through the properties, 
considered generally, of certain substances, as chlorine, 
iodine, and brome, or sulphur and phosphorus ; so much 
so that when chemists discover any new property of the 
one, they not only are not surprised, but expect to find 
that the other or others have a property analogous to it. 
But the hypothesis that chlorine, iodine, and brome, or 
that sulphur and phosphorus, are the same substances, 
would, no doubt, be quite inadmissible. 

" I do not, like M. Comte, altogether condemn those 
who employ themselves in working out into detail this 
sort of hypotheses ; it is useful to ascertain what are 
the known phenomena to the laws of which those of the 
subject of inquiry bear the greatest, or even a great 
analogy, since they may suggest (as in the case of the 
luminiferous ether it actually did) experiments to de- 
termine whether the analogy which goes so far does not 
extend still further. But that in doing this, men should 
imagine themselves to be seriously inquiring whether 
the hypothesis of an ether, an electric fluid, or the like, 
is true ; that they should fancy it possible to obtain the 
assurance that the phenomena are produced in that way, 
and no other ; seems to me, I confess, as unworthy of 
the present improved conceptions of the methods of 
physical science, as it does to M. Comte. And at the 
risk of being charged with want of modesty, I cannot 
help expressing astonishment that a philosopher of the 
extraordinary attainments of Mr. Whewell should have 
written an elaborate treatise on the philosophy of in- 
duction, in which he recognises absolutely no mode of 
induction except that of trying hypothesis after hypo- 
thesis until one is found which fits the phenomena; 
which one, when found, is to be assumed as true, with 
no other reservation than that if on re-examination it 
should appear to assume more than is needful for ex- 



110 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

plaining the phenomena, the superfluous portion of the 
assumption should be cut off. It is no exaggeration to 
say, that the process which we have described in these 
few words, is the beginning, middle, and end of the 
philosophy of induction as Mr. Whewell conceives it. 
And this without the slightest distinction between the 
cases in which it may be known beforehand that two 
different hypotheses cannot lead to the same result, 
and those in which, for aught we can ever know, the 
range of suppositions, all equally consistent with the 
phenomena, may be infinite." 

Comte clearly shows how this conception of Ethers is 
only a remnant of the Metaphysical stage ; and remarks 
that the metaphysical origin of this false method of 
proceeding can be easily detected by every impartial 
inquirer who will consider the fluids as having taken the 
place of the entities, the transformation of the latter 
being simply by materializing them. What, in reality 
(put what interpretation on it we will), is Heat, conceived 
as existing apart from the heated body? Light, inde- 
pendent of the luminous object ? Electricity, separated 
from the electrical body ? These are evidently nothing 
but pure Entities, — just as much as Thought is, when 
considered as possessing an existence independent of the 
thinking body ; or Digestion when isolated from the di- 
gesting body ! The only difference distinguishing them 
from these ancient scholastic Entities is this, that these 
essentially abstract existences have been replaced by 
imaginary fluids, whose corporeity is very equivocal, 
since, by their essential definition, we deprive them of 
all qualities capable of characterising any kind of matter 
whatever. Indeed, we do not even leave room for our 
regarding them as the ideal limit of a gas indefinitely 
rarefied. 

It may serve perhaps to clear up some of the con- 
fusion darkening this subject, if I allude to a distinction 
necessary to be made in treating of the hypothesis of a 



ON THE INFLUENCE AND METHOD OE PHYSICS. Ill 

luminiferous ether. The undulatory hypothesis as re- 
gards the process, — i. e. as a Method or path along 
which the phenomena travel, is not only admissible, it 
is admirable ; but in saying this, we do not imply an 
admission of the hypothesis of the existence of an Ether 
whose undulations produce light. The phenomena of 
light may be due to undulations ; but that they are 
undulations of an Ether cannot be proven, unless the 
existence of the Ether itself can be proven, and by 
the very terms of its definition we cannot prove an 
Ether. 

The fundamental character of metaphysical concep- 
tions is to look on phenomena as independent of the 
objects which manifest them, and to attribute to the 
properties of each substance an existence distinct from 
its own. What matters it, then, whether we make 
spirits or fluids of these personified abstractions ? Their 
origin is always identical. It constantly springs from 
that inquisitiveness into the hidden nature of things, 
which marks, in every race, the infancy of the human 
mind, and which first inspired the conception of gods ; 
these gods were subsequently transformed into spirits 
and entities, and have finally been transformed into 
imaginary fluids. 

Agreeably to the law of development, Physics had to 
pass through this transitional stage of metaphysics. 
Astronomy did the same. The astronomical metaphysical 
suppositions of Descartes, which were as ably supported 
as similar suppositions in Physics have been, gave way 
when the true nature of positive Astronomy was estab- 
lished by the discoveries of Newton. In like manner 
metaphysical notions have been driven from the more 
advanced parts of Physics. No man of note has, since 
the days of Galileo, propounded an hypothesis to ex- 
plain the fall of bodies. But the less advanced parts of 
Physics, such as Light and Electricity, still suffer from 
this metaphysical influence. They do so from the same 



112 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

causes which affected the others, and will, like them, be 
gradually emancipated. 

Comte next occupies himself with the division of 
Physics into its principal branches. This division is, of 
course, based on the degree of generality of correspond- 
ing phenomena, — on the extent of their complication, 
their relative states of speculative perfection — and also 
their mutual dependence. Accordingly, the science of 
the phenomena of weight ( Barology as he calls it,) ranks 
as the first branch by universal consent ; and, on the 
other hand, the science of Electrical phenomena ranks 
last. The former is most allied to Astronomy ; the latter 
forms a natural transition to Chemistry. They are at 
the two extremes of Physics, not only as respects gene- 
rality and the other qualities just mentioned, but also 
in regard to their present states of positivity. Between 
these two extreme terms we have, first, Thermology, next 
Acoustics, and then Optics. 

Having thus indicated the main points in his general 
considerations on Physics, I have passed over that portion 
of the ground which, from its abstract nature, will have 
had less interest to minds not specially versed in these 
subjects, than those which are to follow. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON CHEMISTRY. 113 



SECTION XI. 

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON CHEMISTRY. 

With Chemistry we enter upon a science where the 
complexity of phenomena is greatly augmented, and 
where the nature of the phenomena is so sharply denned 
as to seem the result of essentially different forces, 
although, profoundly considered, there is no further 
difference than what arises from the variety of direction 
of the forces. 

Physics treat of Masses acting at sensible distances ; 
Chemistry treats of Molecules acting at insensible dis- 
tances. . The Telescope and the Microscope are not more 
obviously separated, not more identical. Indeed that con- 
ception of the German philosopher, which elevates the 
chemical atom, by a sort of microscopic exaggeration, 
into the analogue of a planet, has deep meaning in it. 
He compares the atoms to the heavenly bodies, which are 
in truth but atoms in infinite space. Innumerable suns, 
with their planets and satellites, move at definite dis- 
tances from each other, as the atoms of terrestrial masses 
do. The Methods in which these masses move, Science 
attempts to ascertain; but in Astronomy we speak 
of Motion, in Chemistry of Combination : both are 
Methods of the unknown unknowable Force, the variety 
of whose directions constitutes the variety of all phe- 
nomena. 

I am only hinting here at a conception which here- 
after will find its application ; and hint it that the reader 
may follow out this long chain of scientific evolution with 
some sense of continuity, and some sense of the grand 
unity of Nature. Having done so, let us open Comtek 

i 



114 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

third volume, the first half of which is devoted to 
Chemistry. 

He commences by remarking how the science of 
Chemistry is less advanced in its progress and more 
wanting in positivism than the other parts of inorganic 
physics. This is owing to its greater complexity, and to 
the fact that when the phenomena are intense in action 
they bear a striking resemblance to those of life, to 
which it is the very spirit of the Theological and Meta- 
physical philosophies to assimilate all phenomena. 
Chemistry labours also under this disadvantage, that a 
knowledge of its most important phenomena is only 
obtained by artificial means ; whereas those chemical phe- 
nomena spontaneously presented to observation, such as 
fermentation, are the most complicated, and the last to 
be analyzed. 

And, first, as to its definition. The general character 
of its phenomena distinguishes Chemistry very distinctly 
from Physics and Physiology, between which it stands. 
A comparison of the three makes the real nature of this 
science very apparent. The ensemble of the three 
sciences can be conceived as having for its object the 
study of the molecular activity of matter in all the dif- 
ferent modes of which it is susceptible. Now, under 
this point of view, each of them corresponds to one of 
the three principal and successive degrees of activity, 
which are distinguished from each other by the broadest 
and most natural differences. In chemical action we 
have evidently something more than simple physical 
action, and something less than vital action, notwith- 
standing the vague analogies that may be drawn 
between these three orders of phenomena on purely 
hypothetical considerations. The only molecular per- 
turbations which physical activity, properly so called, 
can produce in bodies, are modifications of the arrange- 
ment of the particles ; and those modifications which 
are generally of no great extent are most frequently 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON CHEMISTRY. 115 

of a temporary nature; in no case is the substance 
altered. 

Chemical activity, on the contrary, always produces 
an essential and permanent change in the very compo- 
sition of the particles, over and above the alterations in 
structure and state of aggregation : the substances 
originally present are not now to be recognized, so 
much has the ensemble of their properties been altered. 
Finally, physiological phenomena manifest material ac- 
tivity in a still greater degree of energy ; for as soon as 
a chemical combination is effected the bodies become 
completely inert ; whereas the vital state is characterized, 
not only by the physical and chemical phenomena which 
it constantly produces, but also by a double movement, 
more or less rapid, but always necessarily continuous, 
of composition and decomposition, capable of sustaining 
within certain limits of variation, and for a period more 
or less considerable, the organization of the body, by 
entirely renewing its substance. We thus conceive the 
fundamental gradation of these three essential modes of 
molecular activity, which true philosophy can never 
permit of being confounded together. 

There are also two secondaiy considerations to be 
noticed respecting chemical phenomena. 

First — Every substance is susceptible of chemical 
action, and this is why chemical phenomena have 
been properly classed among general phenomena. 
They are unlike physiological phenomena, these being 
peculiar to certain organized substances. But still, in 
each case of chemical phenomena a specific difference is 
found. Physical properties, on the other hand, show 
only differences in degree. 

Second — In order to produce chemical phenomena it 
is requisite that the antagonistic particles be brought 
into immediate contact. When the structure of the 
substance does not spontaneously permit this, it must 
be artificially attained by liquefaction. 



] 1 6 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

The foregoing considerations may be summed np by 
denning Chemistry as having for its general object, the 
study of the laws of those phenomena of composition 
and decomposition, which result from the mutual mole- 
cular and specific action of different substances, natural 
or artificial. 

There is reason to fear, from the extreme imperfection 
of this science, that it will not, for a long time, admit 
of a more exact and more precise definition, capable of 
characterizing plainly what are in general the indis- 
pensable data, and the final unknown terms, of every 
chemical problem. But the idea of science is always 
combined with that of prevision in true philosophy, and 
the final aim of Chemistry ought, therefore, to be thus 
conceived : — Given, the chemical properties of certain 
substances, simple or compound, placed in chemical re- 
lation, under well-defined circumstances , to determine 
exactly in what their action will consist, and what will 
be the principal properties of the new products. 

We easily conceive that if such solutions were actually 
obtained, the three great and fundamental applications 
of chemical science — to the study of vital phenomena, 
to the natural history of the terrestrial globe, and to 
industrial operations — would be thereby rationally orga- 
nized, instead of being, as at present, the almost acci- 
dental and irregular result of the spontaneous development 
of science : seeing that in every one of these three general 
cases the question immediately falls within our abstract 
formula, the data of which are directly furnished by the 
particular circumstances of each application. 

In examining more profoundly this rational definition 
of chemical science, and carrying out the principle of it 
another step, we shall find it susceptible of an im- 
portant transformation ; for all the fundamental data of 
Chemistry could thus be reduced to the knowledge of 
the essential properties of simple substances solely, 
which would lead to that of the different immediate or 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON CHEMISTRY. 117 

primary combinations, and thence to the most complex 
and most remote. We should then have to make 
each simple substance the direct object of experimental 
study by itself. It may be that there is a certain 
general and necessary harmony between the chemical 
and physical properties of each chemical substance ; but 
we cannot go the length of saying that this harmony 
would ever dispense with a distinct and independent 
chemical examination of each of these substances. But if 
once our knowledge of the chemical qualities of each 
simple substance were completed, by observation and 
experiment, all the other chemical problems, notwith- 
standing their immense variety, would become sus- 
ceptible of purely deductive solutions, by means of a 
small number of invariable laws, established by the true 
genius of Chemistry for the different classes of combi- 
nations. 

Under this point of view compounds naturally present 
two general modes of classification, both of which neces- 
sarily require marked notice. 

First, the simplicity, or the greater or less degree of 
composition of the primary combinations. 

Second, the number of the combined elements. 

Now, observation has shown that the higher the order 
of composition of any substances, the more difficult does 
chemical action between them become: the majority 
of compound atoms belong to the two first orders, and 
beyond the third their combination seems almost im- 
possible ; while, under the second point of view, com- 
pounds very rapidly lose their stability, in proportion as 
the number of elements is increased. Most frequently 
there is only a simple dualism, and scarcely any body is 
more than a quaternary. Hence the number of general 
chemical classes to which this two-fold and necessary 
distinction can give room can never be much extended. 
To each of them there would correspond a fundamental 
law of combination, which, when applied to any case in 



118 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

hand, would deductively make known the result from 
the elementary data. It is to our own radical feeble- 
ness, and partly to the vicious direction of our intelli- 
gence, much more than to the peculiar nature of the 
subject, that we must specially attribute the cause of our 
being yet so very far from such a method of philoso- 
phizing. However difficult it may appear at present, 
we ought not to forget that we find it realized to a 
certain extent, in a very important though secondary 
category of chemical researches — the study of propor- 
tions. By the aid of a chemical co-efficient, evalued 
empirically for each simple substance, we are able, in 
numerous cases, with sufficient exactness, to determine 
deductively, from a small number of general laws, the 
proportion according to which the compounds previously 
known unite in each new product. Why should not all 
the other branches of chemical study allow in the end of 
a perfect analogy ? 

We may sum up these observations by defining 
Chemistry as having this for its ultimate object : — Given, 
the properties of all simple substances, to find those of 
all the compounds which they can form. 

Chemistry, when compared with the preceding 
sciences, affords a strong verification of the law that the 
complexity of the sciences, and their means of explora- 
tion, increase together. 

It is here that the first and the most general of the 
three essential modes of investigation, which we have 
distinguished in Natural Philosophy, begins to receive 
its integral development ; until arrived at this science, 
observation is in fact always more or less partial. In 
Astronomy, it is necessarily limited to the exclusive 
employment of a single sense ; in Physics, hearing, 
and particularly touch, come to the aid of sight ; 
but taste and smell remain essentially inactive. In 
Chemistry, on the contrary, all the senses simultane- 
ously concur in the analysis of its phenomena. We can 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON CHEMISTRY. 119 

form a correct idea of the increase of power which 
results from this convergence, by trying to picture 
what would become of Chemistry if it were neces- 
sary to renounce the use of smell and taste — these 
very often furnishing us with the only character- 
istics by which we could recognize and distinguish 
the different effects produced. But what the philo- 
sophical mind ought especially to observe on this 
subject is, that in this correspondence there is nothing 
accidental, nor even empirical. Because the true 
physiological theory of sensation clearly shows that the 
apparatus of taste and smell, unlike those of the other 
senses, acts in an eminently chemical way, and that, 
consequently, the nature of those two senses specially 
adapts them for perceiving the phenomena of composi- 
tion and decomposition.* 

ATith regard to experiment, Comte repeats that the 
part it plays in Chemistry is altogether overrated, great 
though its efficacy undoubtedly is, and greater though it 
will be when the science is cultivated more philosophi- 
cally • for chemical effects usually depend on too great a 
concurrence of different influences to make it easy to 
throw light on their production by true experiments. We 
should have the difficult task of instituting two parallel 
cases, exactly identical in all their characteristic circum- 
stances, save in that one of which we desire to find the 
value; this being the fundamental condition of all 
unexceptionable experiment. The nature of philoso- 
phical investigations presents a complete obstacle to the 
purely experimental method, the use of which is almost 
always illusory there ; and it is in Chemistry, owing to 
the complication of its phenomena, that we first meet 
with this same impediment, although to an infinitely 
less extent. 

* In a passing note I venture to question Comte's assertion as 
regards this peculiarity of Taste and Smell; the phenomena of 
Vision are quite as much dependent on chemical action. 



120 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Finally, with regard to tlie third fundamental mode of 
rational exploration, comparison, properly so called, the 
least general of all ; it is of importance to consider here, 
that if this process is essentially destined for physio- 
logical studies, its employment first begins to acquire a 
real efficacy in chemical researches. The essential con- 
dition of this precious method consists in the existence 
of a sufficiently extended series of analogous but 
distinct cases, where a phenomenon common to them all 
is more and more modified, both by simplifications and 
by a successive and almost continuous decrease in the 
degree of its manifestation. Evidently, physiological 
phenomena can alone give complete scope for the 
employment of this method. But the admitted exist- 
ence of natural families in Chemistry makes it probable 
that, in the future progress of this infant science, a 
corresponding classification will yet be made, which will 
lead to the use of the comparative method in Chemistry, 
both being founded on the common considerations of 
uniformity in certain preponderating phenomena dis- 
played in a long series of different bodies. 

Chemical investigations enjoy the advantage of a 
verification by means of the double process of analysis 
and synthesis. Strictly speaking, the process of 
synthesis, though useful, may be dispensed with when 
the object of the experiment is to discover the simple 
elements of a given substance ; whereas, when the 
experiment is made to find out what are the compounds 
which immediately form the given substance, we may in 
appearance obtain them, but have in reality got com- 
pounds produced by new combinations in the course of 
the process. In the latter case, therefore, synthesis is 
generally indispensable to ensure certainty. As the 
higher its order the more does the stability of a com- 
pound decrease, and conversely, the facility of recom- 
position increase, it follows that we can most easily apply 
the synthetical method where it is most needed. 



POSITION AND METHOD OF CHEMISTRY. 121 



SECTION XII. 

POSITION AND METHOD OF CHEMISTRY. 

We have still to occupy ourselves witli tlie general con- 
siderations forming the prolegomena to Chemistry, and 
notably with its position in the hierarchy of the sciences, 
and its Method. 

We may make this capital distinction between Physics 
and Chemistry : — In Physics (celestial and terrestrial) 
we study the laws of motion communicated ; in Chemistry 
(inorganic and organic) the laws of motion excited. 
In purely physical phenomena we see a force communi- 
cated from one body to another ; but in chemical phe- 
nomena we see a force combining with another force to 
excite a change in the phenomena of both, the result 
of which is unlike either. 

I content myself with indicating this distinction, and 
turn to Comte for further light as to the position of 
Chemistry in the scientific hierarchy. The position he 
assigns to it seems to him a good illustration of the fact 
that his classification does not rest on arbitrary assump- 
tions, but is in truth the faithful resume of the points 
of harmony inherent in the sciences, and manifested 
naturally by their common development. No one, 
indeed, of the positions in the encyclopedical scale 
seems so naturally and so appropriately occupied as that 
of Chemistry between Physics and Physiology. Who 
could now fail to see that, in several essential parts, and 
above all in the important series of electro-chemical 
phenomena, Chemistry is in immediate contact with the 
ensemble of Physics, of which, in appearance, it con- 
stitutes a simple prolongation; and, again, that at its 



122 



comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



other extremity it is in some sort connected, by the no 
less fundamental study of organic combinations, with 
general Physiology, of which it establishes, so to speak, 
the primary foundations ? These relations are so very 
close that, in more than one particular case, Chemists 
who had not mastered the true philosophy of the 
sciences could not venture to decide whether the sub- 
ject really fell within their province, or whether it 
belonged to Physics or Physiology. 

Chemical are more complex than physical phenomena, 
and less general. We have physical without chemical 
effects, but no chemical effects unaccompanied with 
co-existent physical. Hence, too, Chemistry is indirectly 
subordinated to Astronomy, and even to Mathematics. 
As far as respects doctrine, the connection is indeed 
small. Chemical questions cannot be treated among 
mathematical doctrines;* and in abstract Chemistry 
there is little reference to Astronomy. In concrete 
Chemistry, i. e. in the application of chemical know- 
ledge to the natural history of the globe, the connection 
between Astronomy and Chemistry is much more 
apparent. As respects Method, Mathematics and 
Astronomy have had a great influence on the cultivation 
of Chemistry. From the study of mathematical pheno- 
mena have been obtained habits of rationality, pre- 
cision, and consistency. Although mathematics are less 
needful to the chemist than to the natural philosopher, 
the evil effects of the want of those habits, owing to a 
defective mathematical education, may be seen in most 
chemical speculations. Astronomy being the great type 
of scientific perfection, its influence is the more needed 
in Chemistry, because the phenomena are increased in 
complexity. Astronomy is calculated, much more than 



* This was true when Comte wrote, in 1 838 ; but now chemical 
questions are beginning to be susceptible of purely mathematical 
treatment. 



POSITION AND METHOD OF CHEMISTRY. 123 

Physics, to show Chemists the radical inanity of all 
metaphysical explanations, and to make manifest the 
true characteristics of their science. Comte also shows 
here, but more fully in his lecture on Physiology, how 
that science must be based upon and follow in the wake 
of Chemistry. He next proceeds to estimate the 
general perfection of chemical science, as respects 
method and doctrine. 

As to Method, physical philosophy has approximated 
much nearer than chemical philosophy to the complete 
state of positivity. If the first still presents, with respect 
to the theory of hypotheses, a g^tm-metaphysical cha- 
racter, there is no exaggeration in saying that the second 
continues in some respects essentially metaphysical in 
spirit, by reason of its more difficult and more tardy 
development. The doctrine of affinities, although now 
rapidly losing its hold, is even more ontological than 
that of the fluids and imaginary ethers. If the electri- 
cal fluid and the luminous ether are really nothing 
but materialized entities ; are these affinities anything 
else than pure entities, as vague and indetermined as 
those which flourished in the scholastic philosophy of 
the middle ages ? The pretended solutions which we 
have been in the habit of deducing from them, evidently 
possess the essential characteristic of metaphysical ex- 
planations — the simple and naive reproduction, in abstract 
terms, of the very statement of the phenomenon. The 
accelerated development of chemical observations during 
the last fifty years, which will doubtless soon discredit 
for ever this false philosophy, has hitherto only modified 
it in such a way as to show its radical nullity with irre- 
sistible evidence. When affinities were regarded as 
absolute and invariable, their employment in the expla- 
nation of phenomena, although of necessity always 
illusory, had at least a more imposing appearance. But 
since facts have compelled us to conceive affinities as, 
on the contrary, eminently variable and dependent upon 



124 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

a multitude of different circumstances, their use could 
no longer be continued, without speedily becoming, by 
this single change, more plainly futile and almost 
childish. Thus, for example, it was known for a long 
time that at a certain temperature iron decomposed 
water or protoxide of hydrogen ; and yet it was after- 
wards discovered that, under the mere influence of a 
higher temperature, hydrogen in its turn decomposed 
oxide of iron. What, then, can signify the order of 
affinity which we believed we had established between 
iron and hydrogen towards oxygen ? 

The state of education at the time explains how men 
of genius like Berthollet could entertain such notions as 
that of elective affinities. It is to those metaphysical 
habits that we owe the doctrine of predisposing affinity, 
employed even by the great Berzelius. For example, 
when sulphuric acid determines the decomposition of 
water by iron, at ordinary temperatures, so as to disen- 
gage hydrogen, the metaphysical explanation of the 
process is — That sulphuric acid has an affinity for oxide 
of iron, which tends to form itself. Observe, the oxide 
of iron does not as yet exist ; it exists only after the 
decomposition has taken place ; so that on this doctrine 
of affinity we have the sympathetic action of one sub- 
stance upon another substance not yet in existence, but 
called into existence by this sympathetic action ! Even 
Liebig, who repudiates the notion of affinity as expres- 
sive of anything like relationship, has not emancipated 
himself sufficiently from the metaphysical condition to 
give up the notion of an inherent tendency. 

As another example of metaphysical Chemistry, con- 
sider the favourite notion of a catalytic force. The 
following passage, from Gregory's admirable Handbook 
of Organic Chemistry, expresses my views with autho- 
rity :— 

" The view adopted by Berzelius, according to which 
fermentation, and all the other phenomena of chemical 



POSITION AND METHOD OF CHEMISTRY. 125 

change produced by contact, are the results of a peculiar 
unknown force, the catalytic force, coming into action 
when certain bodies are placed in contact, appears un- 
philosophical, as in the first place, assuming the exist- 
ence of a new force where known forces would suffice to 
explain the facts ; and, secondly, as furnishing no real 
explanation, but merely acknowledging, indirectly, our 
inability to offer any such explanation. When we 
ascribe an effect to catalysis, we are only saying, in 
other words, that we cannot account for it ; catalysis is 
thus merely a convenient term for all that we do not 
understand. And to the use of the word in this sense, 
namely, as a name for the agent which produces certain 
effects, the agent itself being unknown, there would be 
no objection, were it not that catalysis has been em- 
ployed to account for phenomena not only different from 
each other, but actually of an opposite kind. For 
example, platinum, in causing the combination of oxygen 
and hydrogen, is said to act catalytically, and the action 
of oxide of manganese, or oxide of silver, in decomposing 
peroxide of hydrogen, that is, in causing the separation 
of oxygen and hydrogen, is also called catalytic. This 
example proves how loosely the word has been employed, 
and how vague are the views which have led to its in- 
troduction." 

In accordance with the position of chemistry in a 
scientific hierarchy, the general plan of rational educa- 
tion for a chemist requires a preliminary study of mathe- 
matical philosophy, next of astronomical philosophy, and 
last of physics. We should remember, when speculat- 
ing philosophically on this subject, that this doctrine 
of affinities is only an attempt (necessarily a vain 
one) to conceive the hidden nature of chemical phe- 
nomena, which is as radically inaccessible as the 
analogous essences men sought in former times to 
discover, by similar processes, in the case of more 
simple phenomena. And how can the chemist aid in 



126 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

ridding his science of these metaphysical ideas, without 
first mastering the more simple and now more positive 
sciences ? How, if half-metaphysical as regards them, can 
he be positive in chemistry ? Must not the individual, 
like the species, in its gradual development, extract 
positive conceptions from the simpler sciences first ? 

In respect of doctrine, chemistry is also inferior to 
physics. Chemical effects are still essentially incoherent, 
or at least feebly co-ordinated by a small number of 
partial and insufficient relations, in place of those laws, 
as certain as they are extensive and uniform, which are 
justly the glory of physics. As to prevision, the true 
measure of the perfection of each natural science, it is 
too evident that if it is already much more limited, more 
uncertain, and less precise in physics than in astronomy, 
the case is still worse with Chemistry. Most frequently, 
the issue of any chemical action can only be known by 
taking express account of the circumstances of the 
moment, and, as it were, at the time the action is 
ended. 

Let us now glance at the most distinguished of the 
philosophical properties of Chemistry, with reference to 
their direct bearing upon the fundamental education of 
humanity. 

On this point, and in the first place, as to Method, 
Comte refers to the high philosophical utility of the arts 
of experiment and observation as practised in Chemistry. 
But there also exists in the system of positive method a 
very important part, too little appreciated as yet, and 
which Chemistry had the special function of bringing 
to the highest degree of perfection. Comte does not 
here speak of the theory of classifications (sufficiently ill 
understood by chemists), but of the general art of 
rational Nomenclatures, which is altogether independent 
of it, and of which Chemistry, by the very nature of its 
subject, must present more perfect models than any 
other fundamental science. 



POSITION AND METHOD OF CHEMISTRY. 127 

Attempts have often been made, especially since the 
reform of chemical language, and they are still daily 
made, to form a systematic nomenclature in Anatomy, 
in Pathology, and especially in Zoology. But whatever 
may be the real utility of these praiseworthy efforts, 
they have not, and never could have been, followed by a 
success like that of the illustrious founders of chemical 
nomenclature, even if they were better conceived and 
more rationally directed than they have hitherto been ; 
for the nature of the phenomena peremptorily forbids it. 
It is not accidentally that chemical nomenclature is so 
perfect compared with all the others. In proportion as 
the phenomena increase in complexity, the objects are 
characterized by points of comparison at once more 
varied and less circumscribed. It consequently becomes 
more and more difficult to subject them in a manner 
sufficiently expressive to a uniform system of denomina- 
tions, rational and at the same time abridged, and to 
have this system adapted really to facilitate the habitual 
combination of ideas. Were it that the organs and 
tissues of living bodies only differed among themselves 
in one single and capital point of view, — that diseases 
were sufficiently denned by their seat, — that zoological 
genera, or at least families, could be always formed on 
one principle completely homogeneous, — then we might 
conceive that the sciences would immediately allow of 
systematic nomenclatures as rational and as efficacious as 
that of chemistry. But, in reality, the profound diversity 
of the numerous aspects under which they present them- 
selves, and which are almost never susceptible of being 
co-ordinated uniquely under one of them, evidently 
renders our arriving at such perfection both very difficult 
and little advantageous. 

Among the sciences in which the immense multitude 
of subjects spontaneously give rise, at their formation, to 
special nomenclatures, Chemistry is the only one where, 
from its nature, the phenomena are sufficiently simple 



128 comte's philosophy op the sciences. 

and -uniform, and at the same time sufficiently deter- 
mined, to permit of a nomenclature at once clear, 
rapid, and complete, and thereby contributing to the 
general progress of the science. The direct and ruling 
idea in chemistry is incontestably that of composition ; 
and the peculiar object of the science is to make all 
chemical questions resolve themselves into one of com- 
position. Hence, since the systematic name of each 
body would make its composition directly known to us, 
it can easily give us a general but correct notion of the 
ensemble of its chemical history ; and afterwards serve 
to us as a faithful and concise summary of that 
ensemble ; and from the very nature of the science, the 
nearer it advances towards its final destination, the 
more will this double property of its nomenclature be 
inevitably developed. 

Thus Chemistry must be considered as eminently 
suited to develope, in the most special manner, 
one of those fundamental means of obtaining and 
using knowledge (so few in number) which together 
constitute the general power of the human mind. 
Comte has endeavoured to show very clearly the 
principal causes of the evident superiority which results 
from the very nature of chemical science. But 
although he required to do so, it is incontestable 
that the formation of systems of rational nomencla- 
tures in the more complex sciences must possess a 
real and engrossing interest, notwithstanding that they 
are necessarily more difficult to establish there, and less 
efficacious in their use. He desires to make clear the 
indispensable necessity of every class whatever of posi- 
tive philosophers having recourse exclusively to che- 
mistry for extracting the true principles and general 
spirit of the art of scientific nomenclatures. This is just 
in accordance with that fundamental rule, already carried 
out in so many other respects, in the Cours de Phi- 
losophic Positive — viz. what each logical artifice ought to 






POSITION AND METHOD OF CHEMISTRY. 129 

be directly studied in that part of natural philosophy which 
offers the most spontaneous and most complete develop- 
ment of it, with the ultimate object of our being able to 
apply it, with proper modifications, to make more per- 
fect the other sciences. 

The eminent philosophical properties of Chemistry 
are still more remarkable in respect of Doctrine than of 
Method. Its development has contributed much to the 
emancipation of human reason from theological and 
metaphysical doctrines. If Chemistry, from increase of 
complexity, is defective in one of the two attributes 
which tend to that emancipation — namely, prevision of 
phenomena, it is — as a necessary and compensating conse- 
quence of the same fact — strikingly provided with the 
other — namely, the power of modifying them at our 
pleasure. Neither can co-exist with the idea of a 
government by providential volitions. 

Besides, Chemistry has aided in emancipating the 
human mind, by rectifying our primitive notions re- 
specting the general economy of terrestrial nature. Al- 
though, since Aristotle, philosophers entertained the 
notion that the same elementary substances essentially 
reproduced themselves in all the great operations of 
nature, notwithstanding their apparent independence; 
nevertheless, it necessarilv resulted from the utter 
impossibility of realizing this vague and metaphysical 
anticipation of the truth, that the universal dominion 
of the theological dogma of absolute destruction and 
creation kept its hold until the great epoch of that 
admirable development of chemical genius which forms 
the principal scientific characteristic of the last quarter 
of the eighteenth century. In fact, so long as we could 
take no account of gases, either as the elements or the 
products of chemical action, a great number of re- 
markable phenomena inevitably encouraged the belief 
in the annihilation or the actual production of matter 
in the general system of nature. Certain discoveries 

K 



130 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

were requisite to establish beyond cavil the fundamental 
principle of the necessarily indefinite perpetuity of all 
matter ; such, especially, were the decomposition of air 
and water, and afterwards the elementary analysis of 
vegetable and animal substances, and perhaps, too, at a 
later period, as the complement of those, the analysis of 
alkalies properly so called, and of earths. The tendency 
of those discoveries was irrevocably to substitute in all 
minds the positive notions of decomposition and re- 
composition, for the theological notions of destruction 
and of creation. A new light, also, was thereby thrown 
on vital phenomena. It was perceived that organic 
and inorganic matter were not radically different ; and 
that vital transformations are, like all others, subordi- 
nated to chemical phenomena. 

Comte concludes the chapter with some remarks 
respecting the divisions of chemistry. The science, he 
says, is still too much in its infancy, and too imperfect, 
to offer, of itself, a proper division. The homogeneity 
of its phenomena, so exceptional when contrasted with 
other sciences, makes a natural division of it little 
marked. It is clear, however, that in the meantime the 
division of chemistry into inorganic and organic, must 
be disregarded, as being irrational. Combinations 
cannot be classified in abstract chemistry according to 
their origin, as they may be in natural history. The 
two classes referred to are always mutually encroaching 
on each other. In reality, what is called organic che- 
mistry is half chemical, half physiological. 

Any rational division must be founded on the principle 
involved in the true definition of the science — that of 
composition and decomposition. Hence, in here ap- 
plying the rule of always following the gradual compli- 
cation of the phenomena, we see that, in dividing che- 
mistry into its principal branches, we can be guided by 
only these two considerations. 

1st. The increase of the number of the constituent 



POSITION AND METHOD OF CHEMISTRY. 181 

compounds (whether mediate or immediate), according 
as the combinations formed by them are either binary 
or ternary, &c. 

2nd. The degree of composition, lower or higher, of 
the immediate compounds, each of which, to take for 
example the case of a repeated dualism, can be decom- 
posed a greater or less number of times into two others. 

It may be questioned which of these two points of 
view ought to preponderate. According to Comte, the 
chief consideration belongs to the degree of composition, 
as it is a matter of more importance in the science than 
the multiplicity of the constituent compounds. 

Having closed the general considerations, he pro- 
ceeds in subsequent lectures to treat of Inorganic Che- 
mistry in general, and of the doctrine of Definite Pro- 
portions, and the Electro- chemical theory in particular. 
In these lectures, the student will, of course, note many 
details which in so rapidly advancing a science as Che- 
mistry have assumed a new aspect since 1838, when the 
lectures were published; but the philosophy of Chemistry 
he will there find set forth in large outlines. 



132 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 






SECTION XIII. 

ORGANIC chemistry. 

It may be taken as evidence of the erroneous views 
current among scientific men on the true nature of 
science as respects Classification, that a distinct body 
of doctrine should claim for itself a distinct existence 
in the shape of a " Science of Organic Chemistry." 
Against this supposed science, Comte energetically 
protests as a source of inevitable confusion, and as a 
consequence of the absence of that Philosophy of 
Science which he has endeavoured to elaborate. 

Open Dr. Gregory's admirable Handbook of Organic 
Chemistry — the latest published — and read this defini- 
tion : " Organic Chemistry is so called because it 
treats of the substances which form the structure of 
organized beings and of their products, whether animal 
or vegetable." Now, although it is not possible, I 
believe, to draw a line of demarcation between the 
inorganic and organic worlds, — although the differences 
we observe are not essential, but phenomenal, — never- 
theless positive philosophers, who only study phenomena, 
recognise a marked difference between the phenomena 
of organized and those of inorganized substances, 
— a difference which necessitates a corresponding 
difference in Classification; and as the phenomena of 
organized matter are regulated by special laws not 
applicable to inorganized matter, we ought to isolate 
them from the phenomena of inorganized matter. 
Comte, therefore, properly objects to physiological phe- 
nomena being treated as simple chemical phenomena ; 



ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 133 

he objects to the Chemist undertaking to solve problems 
which require the co-operation of the Physiologist ; he 
objects to a science which, while it has physiology for 
its subject matter, attempts to dispense with physiolo- 
gical Method. The very phrase, Chemistry of organized 
bodies, implies the presence of an element not within 
the competence of Chemistry, except upon a vicious 
extension of the term. Chemistry does not concern 
itself with the phenomena of Life • yet those phenomena 
are necessary to organized bodies ! 

In protesting against making Organic Chemistry 
a separate science, he must not be understood to 
underrate the importance of inquiries into the chemistry 
of organized bodies. His meaning is, that you might 
as well constitute a science of Animal Mechanics from 
the specification of all the mechanical phenomena 
observable in animals, as a science of Organic Chemistry 
from a specification of the chemical phenomena notice- 
able in organic bodies. 

Physiology is subordinate to Chemistry ; the greater 
complexity of its phenomena embraces chemical laws, 
and some other laws peculiar to itself. That the 
physiologist could not create his science without the 
aid of Chemistry, lies in the very nature of Physiology ; 
but the chemist can and does create Chemistry 
without the aid of the physiologist. Therefore positive 
philosophy insists upon a division of this said Organic 
Chemistry into two different parts; 1st. That which 
relates to Chemistry, properly so called. 2nd. That 
which relates to Physiology. Few minds familiar with 
the importance of Method will fail to appreciate the 
necessity of this division. 

The general principle upon which this division must 
be founded, Comte says, resides " in the essential separa- 
tion of the condition of Death from that of Life, or, 
what comes to nearly the same thing, the stability and 
instability of the proposed combinations subject to the 
influence of ordinary agents. Among the various com- 



134 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

pounds indistinctly united under the term organic, some 
owe their existence to the vital movement, are subject 
to continual variations, and almost always constitute 
simple union : these cannot belong to Chemistry, but to 
Biology, static or dynamic, according as we study them 
in their fixed state, or in the vital succession of their 
regular changes : blood, lymph, fat, &c, are of this 
class. The others, on the contrary, forming the proxi- 
mate principles of these, are substances essentially dead, 
susceptible of remarkable permanence, and presenting 
all the characters of true combinations, independent of 
life : these, the organic acids, alcohol, albumen, urea, 
&c, belong to the domain of Chemistry, for they are the 
same as inorganic substances." 

How, then, is the Chemist to distinguish between 
what belongs to his domain and what to the domain of 
Biology? By a very simple rule. He has only to 
examine whether the proposed problem* can be solved by 
the application of chemical principles alone, without the 
aid of any consideration of physiological action what- 
ever. As soon as any of the phenomena of Life 
manifest themselves, he is warned of the presence of 
more complex agencies than are " dreamt of in his 
philosophy." 

It is well known that although we can create certain 
organic compounds, we can only do so by the degrada- 
tion of some previously-existing organic substance. It 
is in vain that we analyze organic matters and ascertain 
their elements ; we cannot put those elements together 
again, as we can with inorganic substances. There lies 
a mystery of synthesis to be touched on hereafter. 

And this leads me to some considerations which mav 

■i 

not be out of place, as an introduction to the next 
section. 

Is there, except as a scientific artifice, any distinction 
between Inorganic and Organic bodies? No. The 
same elements are common to both ; the differences in 
the phenomena are owing to differences in the arrange- 






ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 135 

772 ent of these elements ; just as starch, wood, and sugar 
are different in their properties, though composed of the 
same elements. 

Whether we suppose the unknown Forces which 
manifest themselves in phenomena to be many, or one, 
taking many directions — whether we suppose the so- 
called elementary atoms to be distinct elements, or one 
element, the conclusion is not affected that, Between 
inorganic and organic bodies one principal distinction 
lies in the latter being combinations of more complex 
orders. Thus, a particle of salt is composed of a group 
of two atoms, while a particle of olive oil is composed 
of several hundreds of atoms. From the dawn of 
organic life upwards, we perceive an ascending com- 
plexity, owing, primarily, I believe, to the greater mul- 
tiples of the elementary equivalents. Thus, if a particle 
of salt contains only two atoms, these two atoms only 
attract each other in one direction ; but in a particle of 
sugar, which consists of thirty-six atoms, the attraction 
is acting in thirty-six different directions. "Without 
adding," says Liebig, " or withdrawing any element, we 
may conceive the thirty- six simple atoms, of which the 
atom of sugar consists, to be arranged in a thousand 
different ways ; with every alteration in the position of 
any single atom of the thirty-six, the compound atom 
ceases to be an atom of sugar, since the properties 
belonging to it change with every alteration in the 
arrangement of the constituent atoms. " — (Letters on 
Chemistry.) 

The four elements, named organogens, oxygen, hy- 
drogen, carbon, and nitrogen, are infinite in their modes 
of combination. Lead and oxygen combine in two 
proportions only, viz., the protoxide Pb O, and the per- 
oxide Pb O 2 , and these unite to form a third combina- 
tion, red lead. But the combinations of the organogens 
are innumerable, and differ, not only in relative but in 
absolute quantities (Mulder: Physiologische Chemie.) 



136 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

And it is from the infinite variety of these combina- 
tions — these directions of force, that the variety of 
organic phenomena proceed. 

To make intelligible by an illustration this effect of 
different arrangement : When iron is in mass it has but 
a slight tendency to become oxidized; but the same 
mass of iron, if minutely divided, cannot be brought into 
contact even with atmospheric air at a low temperature, 
without becoming red hot, and at the same time becoming 
converted into an oxide. Cobalt, nickel, and uranium 
possess the same qualities (Mulder) . What is the expla- 
nation of this curious fact — which, by the way, is at the 
service of homceopathists as an argument for triturated 
medicines ? — not that the particles of iron acquire a new 
Jorce by division ; but that these molecules, when ac- 
cumulated into a mass, are prevented from acting in that 
direction, and their force is what we call "latent." 

We come, then, to the conclusion that, between the 
inorganic and the organic there is mainly a difference of 
combination, an increasing complexity in the lines of 
direction of force. This is the foundation-stone of the 
dynamical theory. Once suppose a new force created, 
and the mechanical theory will support the preten- 
sions of metaphysics ; development will give place to 
incessant creation, and the metaphysical entities named 
Vital Principles will reign supreme. For, observe, the 
marked phenomenal difference between organized and 
inorganized matter naturally strikes men as arising from 
essential differences. " There was a time when men 
could not account for the origin of the lime of the bones, 
the phosphoric acid in them and in the brain, the iron 
in the blood, and the alkalies in plants ; and we now 
find it inconceivable that this ignorance should have 
been regarded as a proof that the animal or vegetable 
organism possessed the power of creating iron, phos- 
phorus, lime, and potash, by virtue of its inherent vital 
forces, out of food containing none of these substances. 






ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 137 

This convenient explanation naturally put an end to the 
inquiry as to their real origin, and arrested true investi- 
gation." (Liebig.) 

Unless we accept some such metaphysical explanation, 
how are we to understand — if inorganic and organic are 
essentially different — the ordinary processes of nutrition 
and growth ? A plant takes from earth, air, and water 
certain gases, which it converts into cellular tissue, and 
thence into woody tissue, and so on — i. e., creates or- 
ganic matter from inorganic matter ; plays the part of a 
God bv virtue of its " inherent vital forces V } Whereas, 
on the dynamic theory, although the mystery of Life 
remains as inaccessible as ever, the Methods of Nature 
are at least conceived to be consistent and homogeneous. 

Many prejudices will be shocked by this identification 
of the organic with the inorganic ; but Truth is always 
consistent with itself, and on no other conception can 
the whole of the phenomena be made consistent. This 
denial of any essential distinction between the organic 
and inorganic is confirmed by Mulder, the greatest 
philosophic chemist of the day ; and to the first ninety- 
five pages of his Physiologische Chemie I refer the 
reader.* Indeed, one of the most indisputable truths 
which the study of Nature elicits is the impossibility of 
drawing definite lines of demarcation. Every one knows 
how the animal and vegetable kingdoms are inextricably 
interlaced at their boundaries ; and when men find the 
articulations of the Gallionella ferruginea — one of the 
Infusoria discovered by Ehrenberg — composed almost 
entirely of oxide of iron, they are puzzled where to draw 
the line between the mineral and the animal. Muller, 
indeed, insists upon an essential distinction between the 
molecular and vital action. " Chemical compounds," 
he says, " we know are regulated by the intrinsic proper- 

* There is an English translation, edited by Prof. Johnstone, 
published by Messrs. Blackwood and Sons. 



138 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

ties and the elective affinities of the substances uniting 
to form them ; in organic bodies, on the contrary, the 
power which induces and maintains the combination of 
their elements does not consist in the intrinsic proper- 
ties of these elements, but is something else, which not 
only counteracts these affinities but affects combinations 
in direct opposition to them, and conformably to the 
law of its own operation." 

This is an abstract statement of the almost universal 
proposition, that the vital force overrules chemical action 
— that the body, for instance, resists decomposition 
while alive, but as soon as life has left it, chemical 
action resumes its wonted efficiency, and decomposes the 
substances formerly protected by vital force. This is 
almost universally believed to be the explanation of an 
obvious fact. That it is a purely metaphysical expla- 
nation I hope the reader sees at once. Vital force is 
one of the metaphysical entities. A more intimate ac- 
quaintance with chemical and physiological phenomena 
will, I am persuaded, prove the explanation to be wholly 
erroneous. As Liebig truly says, "So far from there 
being any foundation for the opinion that chemical 
force is subordinate to vital power, so as to become in- 
operative or imperceptible to us, the chemical effects of 
oxygen in the process of respiration, for example, are 
seen in full activity during every second of life." He 
might have multiplied the examples indefinitely. When- 
ever we think we see chemical force inoperative it is 
simply because the force is acting in another direction. 
The same phenomenon occurs in purely chemical combi- 
nations. For example, sulphur has an affinity for lead 
— i. e., when the direction of its force is not counteracted 
by some other direction — when its path is not inter- 
sected by some other path, it will combine with lead. 
But if we fuse a mixture of iron and lead together with 
sulphur in a crucible, the iron separates from the lead 
and combines with the sulphur ; and so long as there is 



ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 139 

any particle of iron nncombined with sulphur, so long 
does the affinity of the sulphur for the lead remain in- 
operative. When all the iron is combined, then the 
sulphur which remains free combines with the lead. 
What is this but the analogue of that very process which 
prevents the decomposition of a living body by the action 
of atmospheric air, and permits the decomposition of the 
dead body ? Or, again, when water poured into a red 
hot crucible is converted into ice, if there be liquid sul- 
phuric acid present, are we to suppose chemical force 
inoperative because the ordinary effects of heat upon 
water are thus changed ? 

That a great difference exists between chemical phe- 
nomena and vital phenomona I have already admitted, 
and upon that difference rests the necessity for a separa- 
tion of the sciences of Chemistry and Biology, and con- 
sequently the effacement of any distinct science of 
Organic Chemistry. But this difference is not essential. 
It does not arise from the presence of a new force, but 
from the complication of the phenomena owing to the 
varieties in direction of the one unknown force. It is a 
new evolution, not a new creation. 

An egg is organic, but it is not living. That is to say, 
its component molecules are so arranged that the appli- 
cation of a determinate force (heat) will give a deter- 
minate direction to its molecules, which will result in 
the phenomena of life. The seeds which were found in 
Egyptian tombs, where they had lain for thousands of 
years, were not alive ; they manifested none of the phe- 
nomena of life ; they might have existed an eternity in 
that state ; yet by placing them in proper conditions 
they germinated— lived. Now there are three explana- 
tions of this fact. 

1st. The seed had a "vital principle" within it, 
capable of manifesting itself under suitable conditions. 

2nd. The seed received life from heat, which is a 
" vital principle." 

3rd. The seed was a peculiar arrangement of organic 



140 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

molecules, which, when a determinate direction was 
given to its forces, manifested certain phenomena collec- 
tively named life. 

The two first are pure metaphysical assumptions ; the 
last is an abstract statement of what observation reveals. 

(< If/' says Mulder, " we review the phenomena of 
life caused by a change of materials, we must go back 
to the original formation of organs — -to the growth of 
an individual from a germ. We perceive no greater 
traces of the future Oak in the Acorn, than of the 
Chicken in the embryo of the Egg. Should we say that 
the Acorn is governed by an Oak-forming Force, the 
embryo by a Chicken-forming Force ? Though it cannot 
be denied, that, in the embryo, the rudiments of the 
future organs of the Chicken are not to be found ; yet 
we do find the materials from which the first rudiments 
of organs will be produced, ere we find rudiments of 
rudiments. The molecular forces, which are inseparable 
from matter, are present as well as the materials. If 
in these molecules there exists no capacity of becoming 
organs, (i. e., if the directions are not determinate^ such 
as will produce organs,) and if in the germ of organs 
there exists no capacity of ultimately becoming organs, 
no Chicken at all is produced. This capacity, this pre- 
disposition (i. e.y this possible direction) must be present 
in the molecules, otherwise the heat necessary for hatch- 
ing would be insufficient to produce germs of organs, in 
the first place, and organs afterwards, (i. e. y the direction 
being different, the result would be different.) This is 
the only reason why the embryo of the Egg will not 
produce an Oak, nor an Acorn a Chicken/' 

To this it may be answered that the cause of the pre- 
disposition to form organs is the latent u vital principle/' 
or Chicken-forming force. But I ask — Why assume 
the presence of this mysterious entity? How, if the 
egg be addled, and no organs are produced, where is the 
vital principle then ? 

What evidence have you for the existence of any such 



ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 



141 



)> 



mysterious entity as the so-called " vital principle? 
The fact that chickens and oaks do necessarily result 
from certain combinations of matter under certain con- 
ditions ? But there is in this process nothing more 
than we see in the analogues of the inorganic world ; 
in crystals for example : a solution is before me, haying 
none of the appearances or properties of crystals, yet by 
a touch with a feather, the whole mass becomes crys- 
tallized, and into crystals as definite in form and pro- 
perties as the Chicken or the Oak. Is there a 
Crystal-forming Force — a Crystal-Principle latent in that 
solution ? Again : evaporate a solution of sulphate of 
soda in water, and you get prisms. Are we to suppose 
that the sulphate of soda exists as minute prisms in the 
solution, or that a Prism-Principle is latent therein ? 






\ 




142 comte's philosophy or the sciences. 



SECTION XIV. 

THE PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 

The mysterious process by which. Nature passes from 
the Inorganic to the Organic has in all times ardently 
occupied the speculation of philosophers ; and in laying 
before the reader a brief outline of a new theory on this 
subject, I wish, while bespeaking his attention, to let 
him distinctly understand that this is no attempt to 
penetrate inaccessible mysteries, or to transcend the 
limits of positive philosophy. Speculators on this sub- 
ject have been haunted by the old phantom of The Ab- 
solute ; they have hungered after forbidden knowledge, 
and instead of resigning themselves to the position of 
" spectators and interpreters of Nature/' they have 
aimed at being Frankensteins. 

In a work on Positive Philosophy no such ambition 
can find a place ; and therefore it is that I preface this 
section with a warning. The stages of evolution are all 
which will here be spoken of; not the actual causes. 
As in Embryology we record certain processes, certain 
stages of evolution, certain necessary conditions and 
consequences, without pretending to ascertain how the 
embryo becomes an embryo, — why certain materials 
are assimilated, — why certain forms invariably result 
with invariable sequence ; so in this earlier Embryology 
— if it may be thus named — I do not pretend to record 
more than the indispensable conditions and constant 
phenomena of the passage from the simple to. the com- 
plex, — the Inorganic to the Organic. 

The dynamic differences between the Organic and the 
Inorganic are obvious enough, and have often been 



PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 143 

enumerated; but all dynamic differences result from 
static differences— all function must involve structure, 
and the static characters of organic bodies have never 
been properly enumerated. 

In what does the Organic statically differ from the In- 
organic ? Metaphysicians solve the problem in a facile 
way ; facile, but futile ! They declare that Organic matter 
differs from Inorganic in being endowed with Vital Force 
or Vital Principle. This is like Moliere's physician ex- 
plaining that opium caused sleep because it had a soporific 
virtue ! It is saying, " vitality is due to a vital principle \" 
An explanation entirely satisfactory to the metaphysical 
mind ; less so to the positive mind. 

Enough of metaphysicians ! Let us turn to the men 
of Science, and ascertain what answer they can give. 
Many have been satisfied with the explanation suggested 
by Berzelius, Fourcroy, De Blainville, Muller, and others, 
■ — viz. that Inorganic bodies are formed by binary combi- 
nations, Organic by ternary or quaternary combinations. 

" In mineral substances/' says Mtiller, " the elements 
are always combined in a binary manner ; thus two ele- 
mentary substances unite together, and this binary com- 
pound unites again with another simple substance, or 
with another binary compound. For example, carbonate 
of ammonia is constituted of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, 
and nitrogen, combined as follows : — 

(V" Jen r- unite to form carbonic acid j which again unite to 
Hydrogen < < form cai ' bonate of 

Nitrogen 



I " " ammonia 



ammonia. 



In minerals the elementary substances are never ob- 
served to combine three or four together, so as to form 
a compound in which each element is equally united 
with all the others. This, however, is universally the 
case in organic bodies. Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and 
nitrogen, the same elements which by binary combi- 



144 comte's philosophy or the sciences. 

nation formed inorganic substances, unite together, each 
with all the others, and form the peculiar proximate 
principles of organic beings. These compounds are 
termed ternary, or quaternary, according to the number 
of elements composing them. Vegetable mucus, starch, 
and adipose matter, are ternary compounds of oxygen, 
carbon, and hydrogen : gum, albumen, fibrin, animal 
mucus, and resin, are quaternary compounds, their fourth 
ingredient being nitrogen. A doubt has recently been 
thrown upon this theory of the composition of organic 
substances, especially with respect to some particular 
products, such as alcohol ; but there is still great proba- 
bility in its favour, and more particularly in reference to 
the higher organic compounds, such as albumen, fibrin, 
&c."* 

I have quoted the whole passage from Mutter because 
it succinctly expresses a very general conception • but 
the conception is, as Mulder energetically says, durchaus 
unchemisch — " altogether uncheinical." The discovery 
of radicals upsets the whole theory. Ether, for ex- 
ample, does not consist of C 4 H 5 but of OH 5 + O, — 
that is to say, the four equivalents of Carbon, the five of 
Hydrogen, and the one of Oxygen, do not form a ternary 
compound, each combining with the other two ; but the 
Carbon and the Hydrogen combine together, forming a 
compound radical named Ethyl, and this afterwards 
combines with oxygen and forms Ether. The oxygen 
here introduced may be separated from the group, and 
sulphur, bromine, or chlorine substituted. Thus, whether 
we admit the theory of the existence of compound radi- 
cals, as most chemists hold it, or whether we side with 
those who question it,* the facts upon which the theory 
is built overthrow the old hypothesis of ternary combi- 
nations. Indeed, Chemical Philosophy is daily advancing 

* Miiller's Physiology, translated by Baly. 
f See, for instance, Kobin and Verdeil: " Traite de Chimie 
Anatomique." 



PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 145 

more and more to a recognition of the necessary dualism 
of all chemical combinations. 

This hypothesis of binary and ternary compounds adum- 
brates one portion of the truth, — it points out that 
the combinations necessary for organic bodies are more 
complex than those for inorganic bodies ; or, as Mulder 
puts it, " if any distinction is allowable we must place it 
in the fact that compound radicals exist in the former, 
and simple radicals in the latter." The point on which 
chemists are agreed is one mentioned in the previous 
section (p. 135) — yiz. that organic substances differ from 
the inorganic in possessing higher multiples of equiva- 
lents, or in other words that the organic molecule is a 
greater multiple of forces than the inorganic molecule. 

The first stage in our inquiry is attained. We arrive at 
one capital distinction between Organic and Inorganic 
substances, and can set forth this primary static Law : — 

Law I. The elements which compose Organic sub- 
stances are the same as those which compose In- 
organic substances ; but in the Organic they occur 
as higher multiples. 

In an exhaustive view all organic substances are to be 
considered — 

1st. As to their Elements ; 

2nd. As to the Synthesis of these elements, i. e. their 
modes of combination ; and 

3rd. As to their Form. 

Having noted the difference of elementary compo- 
sition, I will now pass to the difference of Synthesis. 
As the letters of the alphabet acquire new significations 
with new arrangements, although each letter preserves 
throughout its integral value, so do the elements acquire 
new powers by new arrangements. The letters Pot 
may form the word Pot, or the word Top ; so also 
Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen, in exactly the same 
proportions, may form Starch or Gum. It is in conse- 

L 



146 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

quence, however, of chemists not distinctly appreciating 
the difference between elementary analysis and im- 
mediate analysis (or, to reverse the problem, elementary 
synthesis and immediate synthesis) that so much con- 
fusion reigns in this part of science; among other 
points I will notice that of the pretended impossibility 
of forming organic substances by artificial means, — an 
impossibility which is at present owing to our ignorance 
of the proximate principles and their synthesis. In 
Miiller's Physiology we find this note : — 

" Berard, Proust, Dobereiner, and Hatchett, believe 
that they have succeeded in producing organic com- 
pounds by artificial processes; but their results have 
not been sufficiently confirmed. Woehler' s experiments 
afford the only trustworthy instances of the artificial for- 
mation of these substances. Woehler discovered that a 
watery solution of ammonia, after being saturated with 
cyanogen, contained a considerable quantity of oxalic 
acid. Again, in the preparation of potassium from 
charcoal and carbonate of potash, a black mass passes 
over with the metal, which, when treated with water, 
yields a large proportion of oxalic acid. Oxalic acid, 
however, is not regarded as a binary compound of carbon 
and oxygen ; the fact that it undergoes decomposition 
when its water of crystallization is extracted is no proof 
to the contrary, for nitric acid is decomposed by the 
extraction of the last portion of its water. (See Mit- 
scherlich's Chemie, p. 416.) Woehler also finds, that 
urea is obtained in place of cyanide of ammonia when 
a solution of chloride of ammonia is poured over freshly 
precipitated cyanide of silver, chloride of silver being 
formed at the same time. Urea is also formed in the 
decomposition of cyanide of lead by solution of am- 
monia. The solution at first contains cyanide of am- 
monia; but by evaporation of the fluid this salt is 
converted into urea. In the same way, also, when 
cyanous acid is mixed with water or liquid ammonia, 






PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 147 

cyanide of ammonia is first formed, and thence urea. 
(Gmelin's Chemie, iii. p. 6; BerzeliuV Thierchemie, 

p. 356.)" 

The point is worth consideration. If you analyse an 
organic substance into its elementary parts, you cannot 
again reconstruct the original substance from those 
elements. True. But the reason is that you have made 
an elementary analysis, and the synthesis required is not 
elementary, but immediate. The substance was not 
formed of the four organogens and some mineral ele- 
ments — it was not formed directly of the elements into 
which it is decomposed — it was formed of proximate 
principles, and these proximate principles were formed 
of the elements. In inorganic substances precisely 
the same difficulty meets us. We can decompose salt- 
petre into its elements — oxygen, nitrogen, and po- 
tassium. But we cannot recompose saltpetre by the 
direct combination of these elements, any more than we 
can so recompose organic substances ; because saltpetre is 
formed by a synthesis of nitric acid with potass, and not 
directly. Thus, as Comte remarks in his chapter on 
Chemistry, Wohler would never have succeeded in pro- 
ducing urea if he had endeavoured to combine the ele- 
ments which compose it ; he succeeded because he com- 
bined its proximate principles.* 

An illustration : — There is a favourite game in which 
a number of letters forming a word to be guessed are 
thrown together pell mell. These letters may represent 
the elementary atoms. According as they are arranged 
; in sequence they form the word intended, or some other 
word. My own name, for example, will form Lewes, 
Sewel, Elwes, Wesel, Weesl, Leews ; in a way analogous 
to that in which the organogens form isomeric bodies. 
All depends on the arrangement, sequence, synthesis. 

* Cyanogen and ammonia are organic proximate principles ; 
both have been formed artificially; so that the possibility of form- 
ing organic compounds is pioved. 

UkA 1 Wi^w, IjlSUw^ l\^A jSvrdU- ^ / 



148 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Further, be it remarked that among the proximate 
principles of organic substances there are many of what 
may be termed mineral origin, whose part is accessory 
but indispensable ; and experiment justifies a priori de- 
duction in asserting that in proportion as organic sub- 
stances contain a large per-centage of these principles, 
the more do they approach those substances which can 
be artificially formed ; and vice versa. Urine, for ex- 
ample, is formed of a larger proportion of water and salts 
than of other principles, and contains more than other 
organic products. 

Thus, then, we see that elementary analysis can teach 
us little or nothing of organic substances formed of 
proximate principles. The value of the elements varies 
with their varying positions. 

As Mulder says, this synthesis is all important : " If 
we pass in review the substances present in the organic 
kingdom, we perceive an endless series of combinations 
from either two, or three, or four elements only. This 
is enough to show that there is an indefinite capacity 
for modification in the primary forces which operate in 
the elements. The influence of one upon another is 
thus unlimited also. A slight difference in the state of 
an element is sufficient to give it the appearance of a 
new, an entirely peculiar, substance, as compared with 
the other elements. Let us take, for example, starch, 
gum, sugar, acetic acid, glucic acid, inuline. All these 
are composed of the same elements, taken in the same 
proportions. Thus they consist severally in equivalents 
of 







Carbon. 


Hydrogen. 


Oxygen. 




Water. 


Starch 




12 


9 


9 + 




HO 


Gum 




12 


9 


9 + 




HO 


Sugar 




12 


9 


9 






Acetic acid 


3 


x 12 


9 


9 






Glucic acid 


*3~ 


x 12 


9 


9 — 


14 


HO 


Inuline 


2 


x 12 


9 


9 + 


2 


HO 



PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 149 

" The carbon of one of these substances is no doubt 
equal to the carbon of any of the others, in so far as it 
exhibits the same properties, if separated from its com- 
bination. But it is incorrect to suppose that the carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen in sugar are identical with those 
in acetic acid, for there is a great difference between 
sugar and acetic acid; and we cannot attribute this 
difference to anything but to the difference of the forces 
by which the same substance is governed. Thus, the 
carbon, hydrogen, or oxygen is not in any two cases 
supplied with the same properties. They assume in 
each substance a peculiar form. The general idea com- 
prehending carbon, hydrogen, or oxygen in sugar and 
acetic acid, must therefore be modified, because the 
forces peculiar to matter must necessarily be modified, 
as matter is itself unalterable. 

" This will appear clearly, if we consider the combina- 
tions of carbon with hydrogen. If we supposed the 
carbon and the hydrogen in C 5 H 4 , C 10 H 8 , C 15 H^ 2 , 
C 20 H 16 , to be always the same, we should be constrained 
to assume the identity of the substances, and any distinc- 
tion would be impossible. Among the elements we know 
a considerable number which, without entering into any 
combination, present an entirely different appearance, 
in consequence of but a slight difference in the circum- 
stances under which they are placed. For example, 
phosphorus becomes black when heated and then sud- 
denly cooled; and by means of a red heat silica is 
so modified, that the substance, after and before the 
application of such heat, might be taken for two 
different substances, if we looked to its properties only. 
The interesting experiments recently made by Berzelius 
as to the allotropic character of phosphorus, have 
opened a new path for scientific investigations. If the 
simple substances can assume the permanent appearance 
of unlike bodies, without forming any combination, 
their compounds can do so much more. And such an 
assumption of other characters must take place in all 



150 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 

cases, in which no other mode remains of explaining 
the diversity of the compounds, than in the supposition 
of a real difference in the component elements them- 
selves." 

Our former illustration of letters may help us to an 
explanation of isomerism, which is erroneously supposed 
to depend on a simple difference in the grouping of the 
elementary atoms, and not on a difference also of 
synthesis. Thus, in Stockhardt's work on Chemistry we 
see isomeric diagrams, in which the atoms are differently 
arranged, to explain all the differences of phenomena ; 
as if a difference to the eye carried with it all other 
differences ! 

Isomeric bodies, properly defined, are bodies having 
similar elementary composition with dissimilar imme- 
diate synthesis; and in proof thereof, they not only 
form different compounds when united with similar 
bodies, bases or acids, but also it is now found they give 
different products when analyzed with sufficient precau- 
tion.* It is to be farther noted that all these isomeric 
bodies are bodies having an organic origin ; many of 
them are actually organic, i. e., they are formed of several 
proximate principles. 

There is another difference of composition, and one 
which demarcates Chemistry from Anatomy with suffi- 
cient precision to form of itself a ground for denying 
the propriety of such a science as Organic Chemistry. 
The difference I refer to is this : Inorganic substances 
are definite in their composition. Water, for example, 
whether as water, steam, or ice, is uniformly com- 
posed of 12^- ounces of hydrogen to 100 ounces 
of oxygen. Quicklime, however prepared — from marble, 
limestone, chalk, or oyster-shells — uniformly contains 
250 ounces of calcium to 100 ounces of oxygen. It 
is on this fact rests the brilliant atomic theory of definite 
proportions. 

* Ilobin and Verdeil : Traite de Chimie Anatomique, i. p. 473. 



PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 151 

Not so Organic substances. Those which are specially- 
Organic — those, I mean, which are not crystallizable — 
are uniformly indefinite or indeterminate in their 
composition. That is one of their definitions. No 
chemical formula, precise in its equivalents, will serve 
to characterise absolutely an organic substance. 

Not only is the elementary composition of organic 
substances very complex, the immediate composition is 
so likewise. This immediate composition is not formed 
of proportions fixed, determinate, invariable, and de- 
fined, as in inorganic substances. The organic substance, 
without losing its distinctive characters of coagulation, 
&c, may possess a little more or a little less of the ele- 
ments of water, for example. Elementary analyses do 
not always give one constant result, as they do in the 
reduction of inorganic substances ; showing that the 
composition is not definite. 

It is because the composition of organic substances 
oscillates between certain limits (limits, it is true, not 
very distant) that we are unable to foretell with any 
absolute certainty what are the molecular acts of combi- 
nation or of double decomposition which will occur in 
any given case, as we can with urea, for example. The 
instability which accompanies this complexity of compo- 
sition prevents our being certain, after having combined 
any organic substance with an acid, of finding it pre- 
cisely as it was before, when we remove the acid by 
means of a base; as we can with urea and nitric 
acid. The composition being indeterminate, it is 
possible the substance may have lost some of its ele- 
ments, or its immediate molecular composition may have 
been modified, 

How much of this indeterminateness may be mere 
mixture, I do not pretend to say. The distinctive fact 
is all needed for my purpose. The differences resulting 
from different immediate composition may be seen in 
Albumen and Fibrine, two substances having exactly 



152 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the same elementary composition, and yet two sub- 
stances so different that no one could confound them. 
Yet by reagents, or by heat, we can change Albumen 
into a solid and Fibrine into a liquid, so that the two 
may be indistinguishable one from the other ; and this 
without altering their elementary composition. Indeed, 
to use the language of the chemist I have been following, 
" Ces elements varient constamment de quantite entre 
certaines limites pour une meme espece anatomiquement 
identique, mais prise chez des individus differents, pour 
une substance dont pourtant tous les autres caracteres 
sont les memes. C'est ce qui fait dire que leur composition 
chimique n'est pas definie, n'est pas determinee, parceque 
leur analyse elementaire ne donne pas un poids de ces 
differents elements fixe et constamment le meme, comme 
le sont les sulfates, Puree, le sucre/'* &c. Moreover, 
the nerve-tissue contains phosphorus as a constituent, 
but the quantity of this phosphorus varies, and yet the 
tissue remains nerve-tissue whether the phosphorus be 
more or less • or any other tissue may lose some of its 
water without losing its properties. 

Gathering up these various threads into one formula, 
we may by it express the second Static Law of 
Organized Substances : 

Law II. The presence of higher multiples is accompanied 
by an indefinite composition in lieu of a definite 
composition, and by a characteristic immediate 
synthesis of the elements. 

Before passing to the third and -final stage, it will be 
useful to alter the ordinary classification of matter 
" Organic and Inorganic," for one which I propose, with 
great hopes of its being found suggestive, viz. : 

Matter may be considered under three aspects: 1st. 
Non-organized ; 2nd. Organizable, or partly organized ; 

* Robin and Verdeil : Traite de Chimie Anatomique, hi. p. ]47. 






PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 153 

3rd. Organized. For these three conditions I propose 
the names of Anorganic, Merorganic, and Teleorganic. 

I. Anorganic matter is that usually termed inorganic 
— water, salts, minerals, &c. 

II. Merorganic matter is matter in an intermediate 
state, wherein it either wants some addition, to become 
organized, or else (as in organic products) has lost some 
of the elements it had when organized. Thus, the 
blastema from which cells are formed is the highest con- 
dition of merorganic matter — it is just on the eve of 
becoming vital. So also the cells which have lost their 
vitality in the very fulfilment of their function are all 
merorganic. 

III. Teleorganic matter is matter in that condition 
in which the cell, fully equipped, can, and does, perform 
its function. 

From this classification it appears that the passage 
from the inorganic to the organic does not take place 
directly ; but the anorganic passes into the merorganic, 
and the merorganic into the organic. What is the 
indispensable condition of this final passage ? What is 
it which makes the merorganic substance vital ? 

We have already considered organic substances under 
their two preliminary aspects of elementary composition 
and synthesis (Laws I. and II.) ; and, if I have at all 
succeeded in the exposition, it will not be difficult to 
gain a clear, firm conception of the third and final pro- 
cess — that, namely, of Form. For Organic matter is 
differentiated from Inorganic as much by its Form as by 
its elementary structure. 

Before explaining my own view, it will be well to cast 
a glance at the evidence furnished by crystals : — 

Crystallization has always seemed to conceal the first 
beginnings of the phase named Organic, because in 
crystals we first meet with definite constituent forms, i. e., 
with Form as a necessary and inseparable condition of 
their existence as crystals. Inorganic matter can, we 
know, assume indifferently any shape without thereby 



154 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 






losing its properties. But in a crystal the Form is 
essential — the solution which will become crystallized 
by even so slight a disturbance of its equilibrium as the 
touch of a feather, is not yet crystal ; it only becomes a 
crystal when its molecules assume a determinate form. 

But there are many obvious and some fundamental 
distinctions between the highest crystal and the lowest 
example of organic life, which prevent our accepting 
crystallization as the transition phase between the 
inorganic and the organic. Of these distinctions it is 
enough to name the most striking, viz., the organic cell 
undergoes a series of transformations, and reproduces 
itself; the crystal undergoes no transformations, and 
never reproduces. 

It is true that a French chemist, M. Brame, has quite 
recently made a wonderful discovery, which — if it be 
established — shows that previous to crystallization cer- 
tain bodies assume an embryonic cellular condition, the 
outgrowth and consequence of which is a crystal ; and, 
what is still more remarkable, in this cellular embryo 
not only has the microscopic cell an enveloping mem- 
brane, enclosing within it a soft semitransparent matter 
containing vapour, which when condensed forms a 
crystal (thus furnishing both " cell membrane" and 
c< cell contents")^ but these cells assume an arrangement 
very analogous to that of the organic tissues ! Grant- 
ing, however, all that M. Brame claims, his discovery 
reveals nothing of the passage from the inorganic to the 
organic — it only enlightens us on the formation of 
crystals. Instead of showing the crystal as an organic 
beginning, it shows the crystal as a consequence and 
outgrowth of an organic beginning. We might thus 
define crystals to be arrested life. 

Moreover, the results of all researches into the chemistry 
of organized bodies show that the proximate principles of 
the organism are disposable into three classes : — 

1. Principles of mineral origin which are crystallizable, 
and which quit the organism such as they entered it. 



PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 155 

2. Principles which are erystallizable, formed in the 

organism, and generally quitting it in the shape 
of excremental products, such as they were at their 
formation. 

3. Principles which are coagnlable but not erystalliz- 

able, formed in the organism with the aid of 

materials for which the first class serve as a 

vehicle, and decomposed in the place of their 

formation, thus furnishing the materials for the 

principles of the second class.* 

These last are the only true organic principles, and 

are precisely demarcated from the crystallizable principles. 

We must not, therefore, look to crystals for the element 

of Form we are now seeking, simply because crystals 

never attain the teleorganic condition. 

Confining ourselves, as we have done hitherto, to the 
teachings of observation and induction, we have to ask 
this question : What is the Form which being universal 
may be supposed indispensable to organic life ? Half 
the prosperity of philosophy lies in being able to put a 
definite question. Interrogate Nature, and she will 
answer. She answers in this case emphatically — a cell. 
The cell, or sphere, is not only the typical Form of an 
organic being, that with which every organic being, from 
the lowest to the highest, commences — it is the indis- 
pensable condition of the being's existence. 

A cell is the whole of one of the simplest plants, 
such as the Protococcus ; and there are large plants 
which are nothing more than the association of 
myriads of such simple cells. The lowest type is thus 
a cell ; the second stage in advance is an association of 
cells j the third, a transformation of those cells into a 
tissue ; but in one and every case the starting-point of 
organic life is the assumption of cellular or spherical 
form. 

On this point hear Mulder : — " The cell is a concave 

* Robin and Verdeil. 



156 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

globule. This concave globule is an individual ; that is, 
in the most simple form in which it can possibly exist 
(in the lowest moulds), it possesses all the powers of the 
molecules united into one whole, and thus reduced to a 
state of equilibrium. This state depends not only on 
the nature of the substances and of their elements, 
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, or carbon, hydrogen, 
oxygen, and nitrogen; but also on their form. The 
state of equilibrium, therefore, could not exist, unless 
this concave globular form existed. Moreover, this 
hollow globule possesses the whole of these forces in a 
state of mutual combination, co-operating for one end ; 
this being a peculiarity which also apparently depends 
on the globular form. Since these two ideas are founded 
on pure observation, we may steadfastly adhere to them, 
and therefore correctly infer that inorganic nature, 
besides all the peculiarities existing in the carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, we must suppose, as a 
chief consequence of this, a tendency to form mem- 
braneous, concave, spherical little bodies, in which, 
because of this form, new peculiar properties manifest 
themselves, which cannot be brought out by other 
forms. Thus by matter and form, by form and matter, 
all that we observe in nature is to a great extent deter- 
mined. This general conclusion is drawn from the 
innumerable phenomena we perceive in the organic 
world — phenomena which differ, whether, on the one 
hand, the materials are the same and the forms differ, 
or, on the other, the materials differ, while the forms 
are the same, 

" If, therefore, the vegetable kingdom consisted of one 
common cellular substance, this being different, however, 
only as to the form, either in various tribes or genera, 
or species, or parts, or organs of plants ; the effects of 
the same chemical body, of the same cellular substance, 
must, of necessity, be different for each different form. 
This has, in fact, been found to be true. These little 
individuals, these little cells, become other individuals 



PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 157 

when different in form, or when connected together in 
a different manner, though they consist almost of the 
same substances. The very smallest difference in the 
nature of the substances they consist of, or with which 
they are in contact, can infinitely influence that dif- 
ference of form, and thus the material products of 
different forms are as innumerable, and as frequently 
modified, as the different forms produced through their 
difference in substance are innumerable, and frequently 
modified. Finally, if the form and substance are con- 
stant, the products of the cells must also be constant ; 
if either the form or the substance of the cells differs, 
these products must be different. 

" It is only right, therefore, that they who study the 
doctrine of life, should set the highest value upon the 
knowledge of forms, and should not rest satisfied with 
merely knowing the per-centage of the component parts, 
or with merely enumerating a series of chemical sub- 
stances, which appear on the analysis of an organic 
body, even if it were possible to get only natural pro- 
ducts by an artificial analysis.*" 

There is more in it than Mulder sees ; but his obser- 
vations, combined with what has previously been set 
forth, may enable the reader to appreciate the final 
static Law : — 

Law III. Merorganic substances become teleorganic 
by the assumption of a Spherical Form. 

The blastema, or nutrient fluid, contains the higher 
multiples and the proximate principles of indefinite com- 
position, but it is merorganic, not teleorganic ; it is 
organizable, it is not vital; and the one decisive con- 
dition — the only one known — which can transform this 
blastema into a vital substance is simply the assumption 
of a Spherical Form. 

In saying that the passage from the inorganic to the 
organic is effected by the assumption of the spherical 



158 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

form (which may stand as a general statement of my 
theory, qualified by what has been said respecting mul- 
tiples and synthesis), I am really saying no more than 
what the facts reveal. Its novelty may startle, but what 
is it more than the mineralogist's explanation of crystal- 
lization ? Just as the solution becomes a crystal only 
when its molecules arrange themselves in a determinate 
form, so does the blastema become vital only when its 
molecules arrange themselves in a determinate form. 

Not only is this assumption of a Spherical Form the 
last step in the process, but by the loss of that Form 
the cell loses its peculiar vital characteristic — its repro- 
ductive power. I cannot here enter upon the mass of 
evidence ready to prove this position, but must con- 
tent myself with the assertion, confident that physiology 
will show organic substance becomes vital as soon 
as it assumes the cell form, and ceases to be vital 
(reproductive), though not ceasing to be organized, 
with its loss of that form. " It seems established," 
says Dr. Carpenter, " as the aggregate result of 
the labours of many observers, that in animals as in 
plants all the parts in which active vital changes are 
taking place essentially consist of cells, which may be 
regarded as the real instruments of these operations, the 
tissues with which they are blended having no other 
purpose than to supply the physical conditions requisite 
for them."* If M. Brame's discovery should prove 
true, this essential activity of the cell will be further 
illustrated by it. At any rate, sufficient evidence exists 
to show that the Spherical Form is a constituent element 
of organic life, and I have striven to demonstrate that it 
is the last determinate step in the passage to vitality. 

I have been asked, and shall be asked again, " Whence 
this Spherical Form ? What is the cause which deter- 

* Principles of Physiology, 3rd edit. p. 87. Dr. Carpenter claims 
this generalization as his own : it is a most important one. 



PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 159 

mines these higher multiples to assume the Spherical 

Form?" 

/ do not know. The question is one which no positive 
philosopher will ask ; recognizing as he does the impos- 
sibility of our ever knowing causes. He endeavours to 
trace the " relations of existence and succession/' and is 
content if he succeed. In the foregoing pages I have 
endeavoured to trace the statical conditions which 
characterize organic substances. If they are accurately 
traced you have no more right to ask me what causes 
the protein compounds to become spheroid, than you 
have to ask what causes a saline solution to assume a 
rhomboidal solidity and become crystal. These are 
ultimate facts ; the hieroglyphs no priest can read ! 

It is not hereby implied that no further and more 
intimate discovery of the process will be made. I seem 
to see various avenues opening. When the proximate 
principles of organized bodies are more accurately known 
there can be little doubt that we shall arrive at the 
discovery of certain properties, to be classed among the 
ultimate facts, which will supply details now wanted. 

As a specimen of what I mean, the well-known dis- 
covery of Ascherson * will serve. In the remarks which 
follow, however, the reader must understand that we 
are venturing into the vast region of hypothesis guided 
by very tremulous lights, and he will consider them as 
supplementary to my theory, not as constituent parts. 

Ascherson found that fat or oil globules in an albu- 
minous solution became coated with pellicles of coagu- 
lated albumen ; thus presenting, he thought, a type of 
cell-formation. Now whether this taking on of an 
albuminous pellicle be a chemical phenomenon, as he 
and Wittich think, or a purely mechanical phenomenon, 
as Harting, Melsens, and Panum think, the fact is in- 

* Kolliker, Handbuch der Gewebelehre ; and Mulder, Physiol. 
Ckemie. 



160 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

disputable that a globule of fat does envelope itself in a 
coating of albumen, and thus presents what may be 
accepted as at least the analogue of the nucleus of a cell, 
when we remember that fat is an invariable constituent 
of the nuclei of all cells animal and vegetable. So that 
on the one hand we see a globule of fat has the property 
of enveloping itself in an albuminous coating, which 
envelope becomes coagulated by the addition of a little 
water, and thus forms a membranous pellicle for the 
globule ; and on the other hand we see that the nuclei 
of all cells are globules of fat. 

Another indication : The nutritive Chyle is white and 
opaque, from the presence of innumerable particles of 
fatty matter of exceedingly minute yet uniform size. 
They constitute the molecular base of Chyle. Their 
fatty nature is beyond doubt, and the reason of their 
not running together to form larger drops, as particles 
of pure oil would, is by many physiologists believed to 
be because each molecule is coated with albumen. Note 
moreover, that, except these molecules of fatty matter, 
the Chyle contains no solid or organized substances. 
The fluid in which they float is albuminous. As the 
Chyle passes onwards to the thoracic duct the quantity 
of molecules and oily particles gradually diminishes, and 
cells are developed in it, to which the name of Chyle 
corpuscles is given. 

The process may therefore be thus conceived : A fatty 
globule surrounds itself with an albuminous pellicle 
constituting a nucleus, which again in its turn surrounds 
itself with a cell- wall, and this ". sphere within sphere" 
is necessary to the completion of the organic condition ; 
showing, both in respect of Form as in respect of Ele- 
ment, how complexities of function follow upon com- 
plexities of structure. Thus the reproductive cell is 
more than a vesicle. It is a vesicle containing a vesicle, 
which also contains — I will not say a vesicle, for that is 
not proved — but at any rate an orbicle ; and in cell, 






PASSAGE FROM THE INORGANIC TO THE ORGANIC. 161 

nucleus, and nucleolus, we have a triple sphericity of 
substances having a physico-chemical differentiation. 
But it is not the spherical Form alone, nor the proxi- 
mate principles alone, which constitutes vitality — it is 
the union of the two. 

This point need not be further pursued — we must 
await more accurate knowledge before attempting to 
determine what are the details of the process ; my object 
is attained if I have made clear to the reader's mind 
that — 

The passage from the inorganic to the organic is a 
triple process of differentiation — 1 . Of Elements ; 2. Of 
Synthesis; 3. Of Form; and the union of "higher 
multiples'" (in certain determinate conditions named 
" proximate principles") with " Spherical Form" is the 
final step which determines vitality. 

The differences, important and minute, which we observe 
in the myriad phenomena of Organic Life, depend upon 
minute and important differences in the Synthesis of 
the Elements and in the Form; every new addition 
brings with it a new complexity, for every statical differ- 
ence carries with it a dynamic difference ; and thus in 
an ascending series of evolutions from the simple to the 
complex, from the anorganic to the merorganic, from 
the merorganic to the teleorganic, from the simplest 
stages of the teleorganic to those highly complex 
manifestations seen in the finest organizations, we learn 
to gather the phenomena of the universe into one 
majestic Whole, and learn that all lines of demarcation 
I are subjective only. In a word we learn that Life is an 
evolution, not a separate creation, and is thus essentially 
connected with the great Life of the Universe. 

No thinking man will imagine anything is explained 
by this. The great mystery of Life and Being remains 
as inaccessible as ever. But a grander conception of 
Nature as one Whole, and a more philosophic attitude 
of mind, in contemplating the varieties of that whcle, 

M 



162 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

will result from the restitution of tlie homogeneity of 
Nature, when we learn with Goethe, Schelling, and 
Coleridge, to see Life everywhere, and nowhere Death. 
Be that as it may, I think it indispensable to the true 
understanding of Biology, that we should familiarize 
ourselves with the truth, that, between the Inorganic 
and Organic there is no absolute essential difference, 
but only a great phenomenal difference, arising from 
the complexity of the lines of direction of force ; and 
also with the necessity — as a scientific artifice — of di- 
viding the so-called Organic Chemistry into Chemistry 
and Biology. 



THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 163 



SECTION XV. 

THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 

We now approach the great and intensely interesting 
Science of Life, improperly called Physiology, — a name 
which it must continue for some time to bear, because 
certain quacks with customary ignorance have vulgarized 
and distorted the term Biology, and applied it, in 
contempt of Greek and science, to their Mesmeric 
operations. 

Matter endowed with a peculiar property, by us 
named " vital force ;"* having the faculty of nourishing 
itself, of reproducing itself, and, in its higher complica- 
tions, of feeling ; nourishing itself by a process which 
is identical throughout the whole series of organized 
beings — namely, by cellular formation; reproducing 
itself also by an identical process — cellular fission; 
possessing, in the animal series, sensibility and locomo- 
tion, in virtue of two special tissues, the nervous and 
the muscular; exhibiting itself in a wondrous progres- 
sion of combinations from the structureless cell of the 
lowest plants up to the complex structure of the 
highest animals ; acting in strict conformity with certain 
laws, chemical and vital, and so producing all the variety 
of organized beings ; becoming more and more hetero- 
geneous in organs and functions as it ascends the scale ; 
passing through determinate stages of germination, 

* It may not be a needless caution to say that whenever I use 
the phrase " vital force" it is as a convenient and popular phrase 
designating the special property of one form of matter ; not as 
designating an " entity." 



164 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

growth, maturity, decline, and death ; everywhere indis- 
solubly connected with the great Life of the Whole, and 
speaking in mysterious hieroglyphics of that " all- 
encompassing and all- sustaining" Power, the burden and 
the mystery of which for ever presses on our souls — 
such is the object of Biology ! To it all the other 
sciences are torches. It is the torch whereby we can 
look upon the final Social Science. 

The study of Man and the study of the external 
world constitute the eternal two-fold problem of 
philosophy. As Comte says, each may serve as the 
point of departure of the other. Hence two radically 
opposed philosophies — one considering the world ac- 
cording to our subjective conceptions — that is to say, 
explaining cosmical phenomena by the analogies of 
our sentiments and affections ; the other considering 
man as subordinate to the laws of the external world, 
and as explicable only by the explanation of the 
properties of matter recognised in operation in the 
external world. The former of these philosophies is 
essentially metaphysical and theological. It rests upon 
the old assumption of man's mind being the normal 
measin'e of all things : it makes law the correlate of 
idea ; it makes the universe subordinate to man. The 
second is the scientific or positive philosophy. 

That the Metaphysical Method should predominate in 
the study of Life, long after it has disappeared from 
Physics, and only lurks in odd corners of Chemistry, 
every one might have foretold ; and accordingly, 
except in the study of morals, we nowhere see this 
Method so strikingly illustrated as in Biology, with 
its " Vital Principle," its " Nature curing herself," and 
its famous notion of organized bodies being independent 
of chemical action. Not only are all phenomena of 
life more complex than chemical or physical phenomena, 
and hence less easily reduced to simple laws, so that 
because our scientific knowledge is less perfect, our 



. 



THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 165 

metaphysical conceptions have greater scope; but the 
very fact, that in studying Life we go at once to the 
source of all Metaphysical Method, explains our being 
metaphysicians in our treatment of this subject. The 
very men who would laugh at attempts to discover 
the " principle of attraction/' the " nature of electricity/' 
or the u cause of affinity/' content as they are with 
recording the Laws (Methods) which regulate pheno- 
mena, naively investigate the "vital principle/' the 
" nature of Mind/' the " cause of sensation." It is only 
of late years, and among the most eminent physiologists, 
that the study of Life has acquired a decisively positive 
character. 

Every Science has its corresponding Art ; because in 
life all our Thought has an aim in Action, under pain of 
becoming sterile and fantastic. But although Art is 
necessary as a primary impulse and concurrent aim to 
Science, yet at a certain period of advancement it is 
indispensable that we should accurately separate them. 
As Comte says, their respective domains are distinct 
though united : to one belongs knowledge, with prevision 
as result ; to the other power, with action as result. 
But as soon as Science becomes fairly constituted, it 
must pursue its own development without any regard to 
other aims than those of knowledge. Of this the great 
Archimedes had a profound sentiment, when he naively 
apologized to posterity for having one instant applied his 
genius to practical inventions. And our brilliant essayist, 
Macaulay, shows a profound misconception of the nature 
of science in his celebrated article on Bacon — the whole 
purport of which is to show that Science ought to be 
restricted to its immediate applications. The culture of 
any one science would have familiarized his mind with the 
opposite conception, and would have taught him that 
whatever benefits Science has derived in the way of 
stimulus and direction from the necessities of the Arts, 
nevertheless, almost all the great developments of Science 



166 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

hava been due to the purely speculative character it has 
taken. Man does not live bv bread alone, thank God ! 
And if the energetic lower impulses are necessary at first 
to stimulate our higher faculties, yet these faculties once 
aroused suffice unto themselves ! 

The object of these remarks is to point out the necessity 
of separating Biology from Medicine, and consequently 
of no longer trusting the cultivation of the science to 
those who practically apply it, — the Medical Profession-. 
If it were proposed to confine the culture of Astronomy 
to Navigators alone, loud Homeric laughter would greet 
the proposal \ yet those very laughers would see nothing 
irrational in confiding the culture of Biology to the scanty 
leisure of the Medical Profession. In vain do we remind 
objectors that Schwann, Kolliker, Henle, Owen — 
indeed, most of the greatest physiologists — are either 
not members of the medical profession, or little more 
so than in name — the common prejudice is, that Biology 
can only be successfully studied by the " profession." 
But this is an evil which must spontaneously disappear 
before the advance of Science ; especially when we come 
more distinctly to understand that Biology must neces- 
sarily embrace the whole phenomena of organized 
beings — not simply the phenomena of human physiology 
— but the whole of vegetable and animal physiology, of 
which the human animal is but the highest and most 
interesting section. Few will maintain that clinical 
experience constitutes the pre-requisite to a correct 
understanding of the vegetable world. 

Biology is the Science of Life. And first as to the 
definition of Life. Bichat, unconsciously determined 
by the ancient prejudice of living bodies being inde- 
pendent of — and antagonistic to — dead bodies (an error 
dwelt on in a preceding section) gave a definition, which 
has attained great celebrity, viz. : " Life is the sum of 
the functions by which death is resisted" Coleridge 
properly remarks, that he can discover in it " no other 






THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 167 

meaning than that life consists in being able to live ? 
and, indeed, if Bichat had only steadily considered the 
indispensable co-operation of the medium (or surround- 
ing circumstances in which an organization is placed), 
with the organization itself, — if he had considered how 
a slight change in external conditions is sufficient to 
revive a dying animal or to destroy a living animal, he 
would never have propounded such a definition, for he 
would have seen that so far from organic bodies being 
independent of external circumstances they become 
more and more dependent on them as their organization 
becomes higher, so that organism and a medium are the 
two correlative ideas of life ; while inversely, it is in 
proportion as we descend the scale till we arrive at the 
most universal of all phenomena — those of gravitation, 
that the independence of a surrounding medium is 
manifested. Every change of temperature, every che- 
mical combination, affects the organic body, whereas 
gravitation is in nowise disturbed by them. For the 
phenomena of attraction we only need simple atoms ; 
for the phenomena of life we want the whole concourse 
of nature, and every variation in the medium is followed 
by a variation in the phenomena. If I insist on this 
dependence of the organism on the medium, it is because 
I find men in their reasonings constantly attaching 
themselves solely to the subjective, and forgetting the 
objective point of view— thinking only of the vital force, 
and forgetting the determinations of that force by 
external conditions. 

Another definition, which has been a favourite with a 
large class, is this, — " Life is the result of organization" 
A truly metaphysical definition ! Wherefore is life sup- 
posed to result from organization, rather than organiza- 
tion from the vital force, whatever it may be ? 

In that very interesting posthumous essay by Cole- 
ridge, Hints towards the formation of a more compre- 
hensive theory of life, (our pleasure in studying which 



168 comte's philosophy op the sciences. 

is only abated by its being a shameless plagiarism from 
Schelling's Erster Entwurf even to its very termi- 
nology), there is a definition which, though not wholly 
unobjectionable, gives a point of view the student 
will find extremely useful if thoroughly appreciated — 
and the definition is this, " Life is the principle of indivi- 
duation" or that power which discloses itself from 
within, combining many qualities into one individual 
thing. To appreciate this, however, it must be studied 
in the commentary. 

And I do not know where a more intelligible and 
comprehensive commentary, in brief space, can be found 
than in the following remarks on the definition : — " To 
make this definition intelligible, a few of the facts sought 
to be expressed by it must be specified, — facts exempli- 
fying the contrast between low and high types of struc- 
ture, and low and high degrees of vitality. Restricting 
our illustrations to the animal kingdom, and beginning 
where the vital attributes are most obscure, we find, for 
instance, in the genus P or if era, creatures consisting of 
nothing but amorphous semi-fluid jelly, supported upon 
horny fibres (sponge). This jelly possesses no sensitive- 
ness, has no organs, absorbs nutriment from the water 
which permeates its mass, and if cut into two pieces lives 
on in each part as before. So that this " gelatinous 
film," as it has been called, shews little more individuality 
than a formless lump of inanimate matter; for, like 
that, it possesses no distinction of parts, and, like that 
also, has no greater completeness than the pieces it is 
divided into. In the compound polyp, which stands 
next, and with which Coleridge commences, the progress 
towards individuality is manifest \ for there is now dis- 
tinction of parts. To the originally uniform gelatinous 
mass with canals running through it, we have super- 
added, in the Alcyonidse, a number of digestive sacs, 
with accompanying mouths and tentacles. Here is, 
evidently, a partial segregation into individualities, — a 






THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 169 

progress towards separateness. There is still complete 
community of nutrition ; whilst each polyp has a certain 
independent sensitiveness and contractility. * * * After 
complete separateness of organismshas been arrived at, the 
law is still seen in successive improvements of structure. 
By greater individuality of parts — by greater distinctness 
in the nature and functions of these, are all creatures pos- 
sessing high vitality distinguished from inferior ones. 
Those Hydrce just referred to, which are mere bags, with 
tentacles round the orifice, may be turned inside out 
with impunity. The stomach becomes skin, and the 
skin stomach. Here, then, is evidently no speciality of 
character • the duties of stomach and skin are performed 
by one tissue, which is not yet individualized into two 
separate parts, adapted to two separate ends. The con- 
trast between this state and that in which such a dis- 
tinction exists, will sufficiently explain what is meant by 
individuation of organs. How clearly this individuation 
of organs is traceable throughout the whole range of 
animal life may be seen in the successive forms which 
the nervous system assumes. Thus, in the Acrita, a 
class comprehending all the genera above mentioned, 
6 no nervous filaments or masses have been discovered, 
and the neurine or nervous matter is supposed to be dif- 
fused in a molecular condition through the body/* In 
the class next above this, the Nematoneura, we find the 
first step towards individuation of the nervous system. 
' The nervous matter is distinctly aggregated into fila- 
ments/f In the Homogangliata it is still further con- 
centrated into a number of small equal-sized masses — 
ganglia. In the Heteroyangliata, some of these 
small masses are collected together into larger ones. 
Finally, in the Vertebrata, the greater part of the nervous 
centres are united to form a brain. And with the rest 
of the body there has simultaneously taken place just 
the same process of condensation into distinct systems — 
* T. Kymer Jones. f Idem. 



170 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

muscular, respiratory, nutritive, excreting, absorbent, 
circulatory, &c., and of these again into separate parts, 
"with special functions. The changes of vital manifes- 
tation associated with and consequent upon these changes 
of structure, have the same significance. To possess a 
greater variety of senses, of instincts, of powers, of quali- 
ties, — to be more complex in character and attributes, 
is to be more completely distinguishable from all other 
created things, or to exhibit a more marked individuality. 
For, manifestly, as there are some properties which all 
entities, organic and inorganic, have in common, namely, 
weight, mobility, inertia, &c. ; and as there are additional 
properties which all organic entities have in common, 
namely, powers of growth and multiplication; and as there 
are yet higher properties which the organic entities have in 
common, namely, sight, hearing, &c, then those still 
higher organic entities possessing characteristics not 
shared in by the rest, thereby differ from a larger number 
of entities than the rest, and differ in more points, — 
that is, are more separate, more individual. Observe, 
again, that the greater power of self-preservation shown 
by beings of superior type may also be generalised under 
this same term — a " tendency to individualism." The 
lower the organism the more is it at the mercy of ex- 
ternal circumstances. It is continually liable to be de- 
stroyed by the elements, by want of food, by enemies ; 
and eventually is so destroyed in nearly all diseases. 
That is, it lacks power to preserve its individuality ; and 
loses this, either by returning to the form of inorganic 
matter, or by absorption into some other individuality. 
Conversely, there is strength, sagacity, swiftness (all of 
them indicative of superior structure), there is corre- 
sponding ability to maintain life — to prevent the indi- 
viduality from being so easily dissolved ; and therefore 
the individuation is more complete. 

" In man we see the highest manifestations of this 
tendency. By virtue of his complexity of structure, he 






THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. ] 71 

is furthest removed from the inorganic world in which 
there is least individuality."* 

Although wandering from Comte by these remarks, 
I am still keeping within the necessities of an exposition 
of the Positive Philosophy; and the reader will now 
perhaps better appreciate what follows. 

The only definition which seems to Comte capable 
of fulfilling all the multifarious conditions required, is 
the one proposed by De Blainville, viz. : Life is the 
two/old internal movement of composition and de- 
composition, at once general and continuous. " That 
luminous definition," he says, " seems to me to leave 
nothing to be desired, unless it be a more explicit indi- 
cation of the two fundamental correlative conditions 
inseparable from a living being, — an organism and a 
medium. This, however, is but a secondary criticism. 
The definition presents the exact enunciation of the 
sole phenomenon rigorously common to the ensemble 
of living beings, considered in all their constituent 
parts, and in all their modes of vitality." At first sight, 
it may appear that this definition does not sufficiently 
respect the capital distinction so much insisted on by 
Bichat and his followers, between vegetative life and 
animal life, — in other words, organic life and relative life, 
because it seems to refer entirely to the vegetative life. 
But, deeply considered, this very objection leads to a 
recognition of the real merit of this definition, by 
showing how it rests upon an exact appreciation of 
the biological hierarchy. For it is indisputable that, 
in the immense majority of organized beings, animal 
life is but a supplement, an additional series of phe- 
nomena, superposed on the fundamental organic life. 
And if, in the progressional ascent of being, we find 
what was at first the mere addition, become, at last, 
the most important, so that the vegetative life in Man 

* Herbert Spencer: (; Social Statics" p. 436. 



172 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

seems destined only to sustain the animal life, his moral 
and intellectual attributes becoming the highest func- 
tions of his existence, that remarkable fact does not 
affect the order of biological study, but points to another 
fundamental science, — Sociology, — which takes its rise 
from Biology. Thus, with reference to the Science of 
Life, it remains true that the earliest forms are vege- 
tative, and to them the study of animal life must be sub- 
ordinate ; this is so in virtue of the greater generality of 
vegetative life, and also, according to the remark of 
Bichat, because the vegetative life is continuous, whereas 
the functions of animal life are intermittent. 

Between these two forms of life there is indeed a 
capital distinction, viz. the one just alluded to of the 
intermittence of animal functions and the continuity of 
the vegetative functions, u and to complete this idea we 
must connect with it the double law of exercise which 
belongs only to animal life. The continuity of the vege- 
tative functions excludes all satisfaction, even supposing 
the presence of sensitive nerves, because every pleasure 
requires for its existence something of the nature of 
comparison. It is in virtue of its intermittence that 
the two-fold animal property, passive and active, admits 
of the feeling derived from exercise, and creates the 
desire of repetition. In the second place, this repe- 
tition developes another attribute which cannot belong 
to continuous functions — the faculty of Habit, which 
constitutes the necessary basis of individual amelio- 
ration.^ 

* Comte's " Politique Positive," 



SCOPE AND METHOD OF BIOLOGY. 173 



SECTION XVI. 

SCOPE AND METHOD OF BIOLOGY. 

It will now be possible to venture on a definition of the 
Science of Life, and a circumscription of its scope and 
Method. We have seen that the idea of Life pre- 
supposes the constant correlation of two indispensable 
elements, an organism and a medium (understanding by 
medium the whole of the surrounding circumstances 
necessary to the existence of the organism) . From the 
reciprocal action of these two elements result all the 
phenomena of life. Hence it follows that the great 
problem of Biology is to establish for every case, by the 
smallest possible number of invariable laws, an exact 
harmony between these two inseparable powers — the 
vital conflict and the act which constitutes it ; in other 
words, to connect the twofold idea of organ and medium 
with that of function. Thus, positive Biology is destined 
to connect, in every determinate case, the anatomical 
with the physiological point of view, the static with the 
dynamic condition. It is this which constitutes its true 
philosophic character. Placed in a given set of circum- 
stances, every organism must always act in a determi- 
nate manner ; and inversely, the same action cannot be 
identically produced by organisms really distinct. So 
that we may infer the agent from the act, or the act 
from the agent. The medium being presupposed as 
thoroughly known, in consequence of the results attained 
by the Prenminary Sciences, the twofold biological 
problem may thus receive its formula : — 

Given the organ or the organic modification, to find 
the function or the act, and reciprocally. 



174 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

That Biology is far from a state of positivism to admit 
of such scientific prevision, except in minor cases, 
no person familiar with the science need be told. This 
was still more the case at the time Comte published his 
views, viz. in 1838. And although in the first volume 
of his Politique Positive, published in 1851, he alludes to 
the important discoveries of Schwann, relative to the 
" cell doctrine/' it is plain that he has not followed with 
much attention the rapid course of physiological investi- 
gation. I mention this for the sake of those who are 
about to study his work. Not that the present state of 
the science in any way modifies the general philosophic 
considerations he has set forth with such profound and 
exhaustive insight. What Buffon said of Pliny may be 
truly applied to Comte : he has cette facilite de penser 
en grand qui multiplie la science — " that capacity for 
large generalizations which enriches science." 

The definition of the science given, let us now examine 
its Method. The philosophic law, laid down by 
Comte, respecting the augmentation of our scientific 
resources according as the phenomena become more 
complicated, receives in Biology an unequivocal illustra- 
tion. If the phenomena of life are incomparably more 
complex than those of the inorganic world, our means of 
exploring them are also more extensive. He has already 
pointed out the three capital arts of exploration, viz., 
Observation, Experiment, and Comparison ; and he pro- 
ceeds to show at great length how these three arts are 
employed in Biology. 

Of Observation, properly so called, we not only find a 
great extension in the study of life, resulting from the 
countless variety of phenomena to be observed, but also 
from the employment of artificial means whereby our 
senses are raised to an incalculably higher power : such, 
for example, as the microscope and stethoscope. No 
one even superficially acquainted with microscopical re- 
searches will fail to 3ee their immense importance, in 
spite of the errors into which the very difficulty of 






SCOPE AND METHOD OF BIOLOGY. 175 

rightly observing, and the tendency to see what they 
wish to see, have led inquirers. What would our know- 
ledge of the tissues be without the microscope ? 

Of Experiment, in the strict sense of the word as used 
in Physics and Chemistry, there can be but little em- 
ployment : the complexity and connexity (if I may coin 
the word) of the phenomena prevent that indispensable 
elimination of all the circumstances except the one which 
we desire to observe ; and almost all direct experiments 
are rendered equivocal by the impossibility of isolating 
the phenomena. Yet Biology has a kind of experiment 
peculiar to itself, and rich in indications, viz., the experi- 
ments Nature herself makes for us in the various 
anomalies of organization, and the? mrious abnormal 
indications which we denominate Disease. 

Comparison is, however, the great art of Biology, and 
Comte is right in devoting to it the great space he does. 
Instinctively men avail themselves of this fertile source 
of knowledge ; but so little philosophic conviction is there 
of its paramount importance, that not one physiologist 
in a hundred conceives himself to be violating scientific 
Method in beginning and ending his studies with the 
physiology of man ! To begin the study of Euclid at 
the twelfth book would not be more absurd. Our ascent 
must be gradual. Taking a broad survey of all its 
manifestations, we find that Life has two grand divisions 
— Vegetative and Animal ; or, to use Bichafs language, 
Organic Life and Relative Life. We see Plants and 
Animals, — the latter feeding on the former ; but we also 
see that the Animal itself is only distinguished from the 
Plant by the possession of certain faculties over and 
above those of Organic or Vegetative life — viz., the 
faculties of sensation and locomotion. Equally to the 
Animal as to the Plant are organs of nutrition and re- 
production indispensable; and Cuvier's notion of an 
animal being able to live for a moment by its Animal 
Life alone, betrays a profound misconception of the 



176 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

nature of Life. As it is the vegetables which supply- 
Animals with food, so in Animals it is the vegetative life 
which supports the relative life. 

Physiologists have not sufficiently borne in mind that 
although in Man the Animal Life has a piedominance 
over the Vegetative Life, nevertheless it is only super- 
posed on the Vegetative, and can never for an instant 
be independent of it. Nature presents to us a marvellous 
procession from the Plant, which has only Organic Life, 
to the Zoophyte, which exhibits a commencement of 
Animal Life, up through Animals to Man, with a 
gradual complexity of organism, and gradual enhance- 
ment of the animal life ; so that from simple processes 
of assimilation a^d reproduction our investigation rises 
to locomotion, sensation, intelligence, morality, and 
sociality ! The great dynamic difference between in- 
organic and organic — that is to say, the first vital act, is 
assimilation ; add thereto the act of reproduction, and 
you have the whole life of a cell, the simplest of 
organisms. 

" A cell," says Dr. Carpenter, " in physiological lan- 
guage is a closed vesicle, or minute bag, formed by a 
membrane in which no definite structure can be dis- 
cerned, and having a cavity which may contain matter 
of variable consistence. Every such cell constitutes an 
entire organism in such simple plants as red snow or 
gory dew \ for although the patches of this kind of vege- 
tation which attract notice are made up of vast aggre- 
gations of such cells, yet they have no dependence upon 
one another,, and the actions of each are an exact repe- 
tition of those of the rest." The cell, in short, is a 
plant — minute, yet individual — and its powers of repro- 
duction (i. e., of throwing off cells similar to itself,) is 
so great, that extensive tracts of snow are reddened 
quite suddenly by the Protococcus nivalis (red snow.) 
" In such a cell," continues Dr. Carpenter, " every orga- 
nized fabric, however complex, originates. The vast 



SCOPE AND METHOD OF BIOLOGY. ] 77 

tree, almost a forest in itself — the zoophyte, in which 
we discover the lowest indications of animality — and the 
feeling, thinking, intelligent man — each springs from a 
germ that differs in no obvions particular from the per- 
manent condition of one of those lowly beings." 

Although we use the phrase " Vegetative Life/' we 
must, as Valentin says, guard against the popular error 
of supposing that the animal and vegetable kingdoms 
correspond in all particulars ; " that there is a digestion, 
a respiration, a perspiration, and an excretion in plants 
as well as animals. A more accurate examination 
teaches that this is not the case. Vegetables possess no 
tissues which allow of the same kind of nutritive absorp- 
tion, of distribution of juices, or of secretion, that we 
meet with in at least the higher animals. They have 
no large cavities in which considerable quantities of food 
can be collected, and dissolved by special fluid secretions. 
They possess no point midway in the movement of their 
juices, and no mechanism other than that of a casual 
and secondary apparatus for the inhaustion or expulsion 
of the respiratory gases. They are devoid of the change- 
able epithelial coverings which play an important part 
in many of the animal excretory organs. In one 
word, the general organic functions are introduced into 
the two living kingdoms of nature, and probably even 
into their subordinate divisions, by two differ ent ways. 
This difference leads at once to the conclusion, that the 
structure of the animal is not a simple repetition of that 
of the plant, with the addition of a series of new ap- 
paratus. The nature of the tissues, the mpde of their 
action and change, the form, division, and destiny of the 
organs, — all these rather teach us that animals of any 
development are constructed upon an altogether different 
plan."* 

I point to this identity of the biological series, and to 

* Text-Book of Physiology, translated by W. Brinton. 

N 



178 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the necessity of the processional method of studying the 
i^ries, for the sake of making more apparent the indis- 
pensable method of comparison. Only by studying the 
varieties of the organism, as manifested in its increasing 
complexity of structure and intensity of power, can we 
rightly appreciate it. Cuvier well says, that the exami- 
nation of the comparative anatomy of an organ, in its 
ascending gradation from the simplest to the most com- 
plex state (or, as he and the majority of the French 
writers prefer to study it, in the descending degradation, 
from the most complex to the most simple,) is equivalent 
to an experiment which consists in removing successive 
portions of the organ with a view to ascertain its essen- 
tial part. Take, for example, the ear. The essential 
part is unquestionably the vestibule ; all the other por- 
tions, the semicircular canals, the cochlea, the tympanum 
and its contents, are successive additions corresponding 
with the increasing perceptive powers. 

Comparative Anatomy is therefore the basis of Philo- 
sophical Anatomy, and before we can understand the 
Laws of Life it is indispensable that we embrace the 
whole variety of vital phenomena : a stupendous task, 
and one which, with Comte, we may justly regard 
as one of the greatest testimonies to the power of man's 
intellect. 

It is requisite, says Comte, to distinguish the diverse 
aspects in which biological comparison may be viewed. 
First, Comparison between the various parts of each 
organism ; Second, Between the sexes ; Third, Between 
the diverse phases presented in the ensemble of develop- 
ment ; Fourth, Between the Taces or varieties of each 
species ; Fifth, Between all the organisms of the 
hierarchy. 

Every one who has made any extensive biological 
research will have felt the necessity for a constant re- 
currence to the comparative method; and I would 
point also to the equally fundamental law of assimilations 



SCOPE AND METHOD OF BIOLOGY. 179 

an appreciable illustration. Seeing that the first example 
of transformation of inorganic into organic matter takes 
place in vegetable assimilation, and that all the subse- 
quent transformations into higher tissues are but modi- 
fications of that one process, it is clear that the 
elementary laws of assimilation may more easily be 
detected in the vegetable than in the animal world. 



180 



COMTE S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 



SECTION XVII. 



PHILOSOPHICAL ANATOMY. 



Having indicated, though briefly, the most important 
generalities with respect to the object, scope, and Me- 
thod of the study of living beings, we may now glance 
at Comte's division of the subject into its statical and 
dynamical elements, — Anatomy, comparative and de- 
scriptive, and Physiology. 

Anatomy was enveloped in inextricable confusion so 
long as it proceeded only with a view to organs, and 
groups of organs. Bichat, by his grand philosophical 
device of decomposing the organism into its various 
elementary tissues, rendered Anatomy the greatest of 
services. For although a profound investigation of the 
whole animal kingdom, proceeding on the ascensional 
Method from the lowest upwards to man, will reveal to 
us the various tissues successively emerging into special 
distinctness as the diverse functions become more and 
more pronounced; nevertheless, this discovery would 
have necessarily been much slower, had it not been for 
Bichat' s philosophic innovation, — as indeed may be seen 
in the fact of Cuvier, although coming after Bichat, 
having never familiarized his mind with the importance 
of this view, but continuing to occupy himself with the 
organs and groups of organs, hoping there to read the 
answer to his questions. The organs themselves are 
made up of tissues, and therefore the priority of the 
tissues is beyond dispute. 

This, then, is the order laid down by Comte in con- 
formity with his method of proceeding from the general 



PHILOSOPHICAL ANATOMY. 181 

to the special, the simple to the complex. TVe must 
commence with the study of the tissues, and thence proceed 
to the analysis of the laws of their combinationinto organs, 
and finally, to the consideration of the grouping of those 
organs into systems, 

A slight rectification of this order is necessary, and a 
disciple of Comtek — Dr. Segond — in his Systematisation 
de la Biologie, has suggested it. He says we should 
precede the investigation of the tissues by that of the 
proximate principles, — viz., the phosphates, fats, salts, 
albumen, &c. These, combined with the " anatomic 
elements" (cells, fibres, tubes), constitute the Organic 
Elements, — that is to say, the elementary constituents 
of organic matter. For a thorough investigation of this 
subject, and at the same time for the most exhaustive ap- 
plication of the positive Method in elementary Anatomy, 
the philosophic biologist is referred to the large work of 
Drs. Robin and Verdeil — Traite de Chimie Anatomique. 

That the starting point of all the tissues is the Pro- 
tein of Mulder, no organic chemist now doubts, 
although the existence of this protein, which Mulder 
fancied he had discovered, is generally given up. But 
although it is probable that no such basic combination 
of the four organogens does actually exist, the concep- 
tion — as a philosophic artifice — is too useful to be dis- 
regarded ; and anatomists speak, therefore, of protein 
as a brief expression for the four organogens. In fact, 
this conception is only an application to organic 
bodies of the conception of Compound Radicals; and 
we may employ it as we employ the conception of radicals 
in inorganic chemistry, without necessarily believing in 
their objective existence.* 

We trace the transformation of this protein into 
Albumen, Fibrine, and Caseine, by the additions of cer- 
tain proportions of sulphur, or phosphorus, or of both, 

* See on this point Robin and Yerdeil, Traite de Chimie Ana- 
tomique, vol. i. p. 648. 



182 



COMTE S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 



as a preliminary to our investigating the transformation 
of the cellular tissue into the other tissues. Herein we 
see the intimate relation of Biology with Chemistry. 
And, while on this point, let us note the chemical 
analysis of these elements given by Mulder. 

Observe that Protein, the parent of all, is assumed to 
be composed solely of the four organogens, and in this 
proportion in a hundred parts : — 



Nitrogen . 
Carbon 
Hydrogen . 
Oxygen 



1601 

55-29 

7*00 

21-70 



100 



For Albumen we want slight additions — very slight — 
of sulphur and phosphorus, replacing a slight loss of 
Nitrogen and Caibon. 



Nitrogen . 

Carbon 

Hydrogen , 

Oxygen 

Phosphorus 

Sulphur 



15-83 

54-84 

7*09 

2123 

033 

0-68 



For Fibrine we want the same materials as for Albu- 
men, with slight variations in proportion : — 



Nitrogen . 

Carbon 

Hydrogen . 

Oxygen 

Phosphorus 

Sulphur 



15-72 

54-56 

6-90 

22-13 

0-33 

0-36* 



* I have given the analysis of Mulder; the reader will bear in 
mind, however — 1st, that this is the elementary analysis; 2d, that 
the composition of orgnnic substances is essentially indefinite, 
though varying within certain limits. 



PHILOSOPHICAL ANATOMY. 183 

Having settled the order to be — Proximate principles, 
Elements, Tissues, Organs, and Groups of Organs or 
Systems — we have to trace the transformation of all the 
tissues from one, and their classification according to 
their true general relations. 

After pointing out the value of De BlainvihVs dis- 
tinction between the organic elements and organic pro- 
ducts, Comte opens the question of the vitality of 
organic fluids. 

" A glance at the ensemble of the organic world shows 
us clearly that every living body is continually formed 
out of a certain combination of solids and fluids, of which 
the proportions vary acording to the different species. 
The very definition of life presupposes the necessary 
harmony of these two constituent principles. For this 
twofold internal movement of composition and decompo- 
sition which essentially characterises life, cannot be con- 
ceived in a system altogether solid. On the other hand, 
independently of the impossibility of a purely liquid 
mass existing, without being contained by some solid 
envelope ; it is clear that such a mass could not be or- 
ganized, and life, properly so called, becomes unintel- 
ligible in such a mass. If these two parent ideas of life 
and organization were not necessarily co-relative and, 
consequently, inseparable, one might conceive that life 
essentially belonged to the fluids, and organization to 
the solids. Indeed, the comparative examination of the 
principal types seems to confirm as a general rule, 
that vital activity augments essentially in proportion as 
the fluids predominate in the organism, while, on the 
contrary, the increasing preponderance of the solids 
determines a greater persistence of the vital state. 
These reflections prove that the celebrated controversy 
on the vitality of fluids rests on a vicious position of 
the problem altogether, since the necessary co-relation 
between fluids and solids excludes, as equally irrational, 
either the absolute humorism or absolute solidism. 



184 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

" Nevertheless, in considering the various proximate 
principles of the organic fluids, there is one series of 
positive researches to be made respecting the veritable 
vitality of the organic fluids. For example, the blood 
being formed principally of water, it would be absurd 
to suppose this inert vehicle as participating in the in- 
contestible vitality of the blood ; but wherein lies this 
vitality? The microscopic anatomy of our day (1838) 
has answered this question by making the red globules 
the seat of vitality, they alone being organized. But 
this solution, precious though it be, can only as yet be 
considered as a simple sketch of the truth. For it is 
admitted that these globules, though always of deter- 
minate form, become narrower and narrower as the 
arterial blood passes into the inferior vessels, — that is to 
say, in advancing towards the seat of its incorporation 
with the tissues ; and finally, that at the precise instant 
of definitive assimilation there is a complete liquefaction 
of the globules. Now this seems in open contradiction 
with the hypothesis, since here the blood would cease to 
be vital at the moment of its accomplishing its greatest 
act of vitality." 

The net result of this examination of the vitality of 
the fluids, together with some other observations for 
which there is no space here, is, that Comte would begin 
the static investigation with the solids, as best repre- 
senting the idea of organization, and from the solids 
pass to the fluids. 

Thus we arrive once more at the tissues as the ana- 
tomical starting-point. And here, as elsewhere, the 
immense importance of Comparison stands prominent, 
the earlier phases of human development being too 
rapid and too removed from observation for Anatomy to 
get its clue there ; only in the biological hierarchy, 
embracing all organized beings, can we look for decisive 
indications. Following this Comparative Method we 
find that the cellular tissue is the primary and essential 



PHILOSOPHICAL ANATOMY. 185 

basis of every organism, being the only one uni- 
versally present. All the various tissues which in man 
seem so distinct, successively lose their characteristic attri- 
butes as we descend the scale of organisms, and always 
tend to lose their identity in the cellular tissue, which, 
as we know, remains the sole basis of the vegetable 
world, and also of the lowest forms of the animal world. 

"We may remark here," says Comte, "how the 
nature of such an elementary organization is in philo- 
sophic harmony with that which constitutes the necessary 
basis of life in general, reduced to its abstract terms. 
For under whatever form we conceive the cellular tissue, 
it is eminently fitted, by its structure, to that absorption 
and exhalation which form the two essential parts of 
the great vital phenomenon. At the lowest stage of the 
animal hierarchy, the living organism, placed in an in- 
variable medium, is really limited to absorption and 
exhalation by its two surfaces, between which circulate 
the fluids destined to be assimilated and those resulting 
from disassimilation. For a function so simple the simple 
cell is sufficient." 

Having ascertained that the cellular tissue is the 
primordial tissue successively modified into other tissues, 
we have to trace the order of succession ; and here Com- 
parative Anatomy again comes to our aid, and guides 
us by this simple luminous principle — that the secondary 
tissues are to be regarded as more widely separated from 
the primary tissue, just in proportion as their first ap- 
pearance takes place in the more special and more 
complex organisms. For example, the nervous tissue 
is totally absent from all vegetable organisms, and is 
undiscoverable in the lowest forms of animal organisms, 
by Owen named, in consequence, Acrita. Again, in the 
muscular tissue there are two distinct varieties, the 
striped and unstriped fibres ; the former peculiar to the 
voluntary or more complex muscles, the latter to the 
involuntary muscles. But the latest researches show 






185 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

that as we descend the animal hierarchy we find the dis- 
tinctive characters of these fibres gradually merging 
together. The transverse stripes grow irregular instead 
of parallel ; the fibres possess them only near the centre, 
where the development is greatest, and the contractile 
energy most active. 

The modifications which the cellular tissue undergoes 
may, in general, be divided into two classes : the most 
ordinary and least profound are those of simple structure ; 
the other, more profound and more special, affect the very 
composition of the tissue itself. 

" The most direct and general of these transforma- 
tions generates the dermal tissue, properly so called, 
which constitutes the basis of the organic envelope, 
external and internal. Here the modification is reduced 
to a simple condensation, varying according as the sur- 
face has to be more absorbent or exhalant. This trans- 
formation, simple as it is, is not rigorously universal ; 
we must ascend to a certain stage of the biological scale 
before perceiving it distinctly. Not only in the majority 
of the lower animals is there no essential difference 
between the external and internal surfaces, which can, 
as is well known, mutually supply each other's places ; 
but if we descend a little lower, we are unable to 
discern any anatomical distinction between the en- 
velope and the ensemble of the organism, which is 
wholly cellular. 

" An increasing condensation, more or less equally 
distributed, of this cellular tissue, determines — in starting 
from the dermal tissue, and in a higher stage of the 
organic series — three distinct but inseparable tissues, 
destined to play an important part in the animal 
economy, as the protective envelopes of the nervous 
system, and as auxiliaries to the locomotive appa- 
ratus. These are the fibrous, cartilaginous, and osseous 
tissues — the fundamental analogy of which is evident, 
and has led M. Laurent, in his scheme of systematic 






PHILOSOPHICAL ANATOMY. 187 

nomenclature, to fix this analogy by the application of the 
general term sclerous tissue to the three. The propriety 
of this is the more evident, because, in reality, the dif- 
ferent degrees of consolidation result from the deposit of 
a heterogeneous substance, either organic or inorganic, 
in the network of the cellular tissue, and the extraction 
of this substance leaves no doubt whatever as to the 
nature of the tissue. When, on the contrary, by a final 
condensation, the primary tissue becomes more compact, 
without encrusting itself with any foreign substance, 
then we pass to a new modification, where imperme- 
ability becomes compatible with elasticity, which charac- 
terizes the serous tissue, the destination of which is to 
interpose itself between the various organs, and above 
all to contain the fluids of the body." 

These are the tissues necessary to Organic life ; and 
as Animal life is so markedly distinguished from 
Organic life, we may be prepared for some equivalent 
distinction in the modification of the tissues proper to 
Animal life, — viz., the muscular tissue and the nervous 
tissue. In each case the modification is characterized by 
the anatomical combination of the fundamental cellular 
tissue with a special organic element, which, of course, 
affects its whole composition. In the case of the mus- 
cular tissue, the organic element is that well known as 
fibrine (the analysis of which has already been given), 
and in the case of nervous tissue, the element is that 
named by De Blainville neurine. The modification 
now spoken of is too great for us in the present 
state of science to describe with precision ; but 
no philosophical anatomist will doubt the reality of 
the process, unless he prefer the supposition of three 
primitive tissues, — cellular, muscular, and nervous, — 
a supposition which would disturb the whole unity of 
Nature. 

This, then, is the object of Philosophical Anatomy \ — 



188 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

to reduce all the tissues to one primordial elementary 
tissue, from which they are developed by modifications 
more and more special and profound, first of structure 
and then of composition, 

Comte energetically raises his voice against that 
tendency among modern German anatomists to quit the 
real positive point of view for some more inaccessible 
and chimerical position, which, if attainable, wonld only 
remove the subject still farther, and in no case explain 
it. Instead of contenting themselves with the reduction 
of all the tissues to one, they endeavour to reduce that 
one to an assemblage of organic monads, which are the 
primordial elements of all living beings. This is con- 
trary to all sound Biology. In the science of life what 
have we to study but the phenomena of organized 
beings ? To go beyond the organism is to step beyond 
the limits of the science. That the differences between 
the inorganic and organic worlds are phenomenal, and in 
no wise nomenal, I have endeavoured to prove in the 
sections on Organic Chemistry ; but these phenomenal 
differences are in philosophy essential, and whoever 
confounds them sins against fundamental principles. 

In one sense it is true that Life is everywhere ; but in 
the restricted sense in which Biology considers Vitality 
— viz., as the co-relation of two inseparable ideas, Life 
and Organization — it is obviously absurd to suppose 
Life as resident in molecules. In what could the 
organization or the life of a monad consist ? " That the 
philosophy of inorganic matter should conceive all 
bodies as composed of indivisible molecules, is rational 
enough, being perfectly conformable to the nature of 
the phenomena, which, constituting the general basis of 
all material existence, must necessarily belong to the 
smallest particles. But, on the contrary, this biological 
heresy is only an absurd imitation of that conception, and, 
reduced to plain terms, it supposes all animals to be com- 



PHILOSOPHICAL ANATOMY. 189 

posed of animalcules. Even admitting this supposi- 
tion, the elementary animalcules become more incom- 
prehensible than the animals, not to mention the 
gratuitous difficulty introduced of their association into 
one animal. 

In thus objecting to the doctrine of monads, Comte 
must not be supposed to allude to the cell-doctrine, which, 
at the time he wrote, did not exist. He merely wishes to 
keep the unity of each organization distinct. " Any and 
every organism constitutes by its nature an indivisible 
unit ; it is true that by an intellectual artifice we can de- 
compose that unit the better to understand it; but the last 
term of that abstract decomposition consists in the idea 
of tissue, beyond which (if we combine with it the idea 
of elements) nothing can anatomically exist, because 
beyond it there can be no organization. The idea of 
tissue is to the organic world what the idea of molecule 
is to the inorganic/' 

I know not if the " general reader" has been able to 
follow this abstract statement of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of philosophical Anatomy, but he need only open 
any of the works specially devoted to this science, 
and he will perceive at once the simplicity, profundity, 
and luminousness of the principles Comte has laid down. 






190 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 






SECTION XVIII. 

VITAL DYNAMICS. 

To the analysis of the fundamental statical condition of 
living beings, succeeds the co-ordination of all known 
organisms into one hierarchy ; in other words, to 
Anatomy succeeds zoological Classification. The chap- 
ter devoted to this subject by Comte is full of interest, 
but I must pass it over with a mere indication. He 
decides against Lamarck's celebrated development hypo- 
thesis. Although his admiration of Lamarck, and 
appreciation of his influence on philosophical zoology, is 
such as may be expected from so great and liberal a 
thinker, he does not, as it appears to me, fully appreciate 
the immense value of this hypothesis if merely treated 
as a philosophic artifice, let its truth be what it may. 

Having set down the general consideration necessary 
as a prelude to classification, Comte commences his 
survey of the dynamical conditions of Biology; or 
what in common parlance is termed Physiology, as dis- 
tinguished from Anatomy. 

Physiology first demands a fundamental division into 
Vegetative Life and Animal Life, corresponding not only 
with the two kingdoms Vegetable and Animal, but with 
the twofold life of every animal — vdz., the organic life 
and the relative life. The Vegetative, as more simple, 
more general, and first in the order of time, demands 
priority in study ; the animal depends upon the vege- 
table, the vegetable does not depend upon the animal. 
Now in the phenomena of Vegetative Life we see very 
distinctly the co-operation of all those laws of inorganic 
matter which the previous sciences have made us ac- 



VITAL DYNAMICS. 191 

quainted with ; and Comte has sketched what he calls 
" the theory of media/' or indispensable circumstances, 
as a necessary preliminary* to this part of the science. 

" The true philosophic character of physiology con- 
sists in the institution of an exact and constant har- 
mony between the static and dynamic points of view, 
between the ideas of organization and the ideas of life, 
between the notion of agent and that of act ; hence 
results the necessity of reducing all our abstract 
conceptions of physiological properties to the considera- 
tion of elementary and general phenomena, every one 
of which necessarily recalls to our mind the idea of a 
locality more or less circumscribed. One may say, in 
short, that the reduction of the various functions to cor- 
responding properties must be regarded as the conse- 
quence of the habitual analysis of life itself into its 
different functions, setting aside all vain pretensions to 
discover causes, and bearing in view only the discovery 
of laws. Otherwise, the ideas of properties will fall 
back into the ancient notions of metaphysical entities. 

" In endeavouring to make our different degrees of 
physiological analysis correspond with those of anato- 
mical analysis, we may begin by saying that the idea of 
property, which lies at the bottom of the one, must cor- 
respond with that of tissue, which lies at the bottom of 
the other; while the idea of function corresponds with 
that of organ : so that the successive notions of function 
and property present a gradation perfectly similar to that 
which exists between the notions of organ and tissue " 

It has already been seen, in treating of the tissues, 
that we must divide them into, 1st, one primordial 
generative tissue — the cellular ; and 2nd, the secondary 
and special tissues which result from the combination of 
certain substances with this primary tissue. That is to 

* In the Politique Positive, he rectifies the position here given 
to the theory of media, and places it after Physiology, on the 
philosophic principle that intermediate questions should be studied 
after the two extremes they lie between. 



192 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

say, there is the cellular tissue and its modifications ; 
and there is the combination of this tissue with fibrine 
and neurine to form muscular and nervous tissues. The 
physiological properties must therefore be divided into 
correspondent classes — 1st, those general properties which 
belong to all the tissues, and which constitute the life, 
so to speak, of the primordial cellular tissue ; and 2nd, 
those special properties which characterize the most 
distinctive modifications — i. e., the muscular and nervous 
tissues. Thus we return to the great fundamental dis- 
tinction between Vegetative and Animal Life. 

" If/' says Comte, " we consider the condition of 
opinion with reference to this matter, we shall find, that, 
as regards the two special secondary tissues, very clear 
and important conclusions have been obtained of their 
properties, because in accordance with the natural march 
of intelligence, the most striking phenomena are the 
soonest appreciated. All the general phenomena of 
animal life are, now-a-days, unanimously connected 
with contractility and sensibility, considered each as the 
characteristic attribute of a distinct tissue. But there 
reigns extreme confusion and difference with regard to 
the general properties of vegetative life/' 

The two capital functions of Vegetative Life are those 
which, in their constant connection and antagonism, 
correspond with the definition of Life itself: 

1st. Absorption, internally, of those materials drawn 
from the surrounding medium, which, after their gradual 
assimilation, result in what we call nutrition or growth. 

2nd. Exhalation, externally, of those molecules which 
are not assimilated, or are produced by disassimilation 
in the waste of tissues. 

No other fundamental notion enters the idea of Life, 
if we separate from it, as we ought, all ideas relative to 
animal life, which, as a more special modification, does 
not affect the general problem. 

" In no organism can the assimilable materials be 
directly incorporated, either at the place of absorption 



VITAL DYNAMICS. 193 

or under their primitive form ; their assimilation requires 
a certaindisplacement, and a preparation accomplished 
during the passage. It is the same, inversely, with exha- 
lation, which presupposes that the particles which have 
become useless to a certain portion of the organism, are 
finally exhaled from another portion, after having under- 
gone, in the passage, certain indispensable modifications. 
In this respect, as in so many others, it seems to me 
that great exaggeration has been made of the distinction 
between the animal and vegetable organism, the more 
especially when it has been attempted to make digestion 
an essential character of animality. For, in forming 
the most general notion of digestion, which must extend 
to all preparation of aliments indispensable to their assi- 
milation, it is quite clear that this preparation exists in 
the vegetable as well as in the animal, although less 
profound and varied, in consequence of the simplicity 
of the aliments and of the organism. The same remark 
applies to the movement of the fluids." 

To these functions of Absorption and Exhalation 
(between which we must necessarily interpose Assimila- 
tion, as the result of absorption), we must add a fourth, 
which, issuing out of Assimilation, presents three great 
aspects : Growth, Generation, Death ; — all dependent 
upon cell multiplication, and varying according to a law 
I hope some day to demonstrate, with the aid of my 
friend Herbert Spencer's discovery, succinctly expressed 
by him in the formula, individuation is antagonistic to 
reproduction* 

It may be well here to state one of the fundamental 
laws of assimilation, which we owe, I believe, to 
Chevreul : — 

There is an intimate relation between the chemical 



* See his Theory of Population, aij. essay reprinted from the 
" Westminster Ee view," giving the outline of an elaborate work 
on which he has long been engaged. 

o 



194 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

composition of an aliment and the organism which it 
nourishes. 

A plant or an animal may be nourished in two ways : 
1st, when attached to the parent as seed or embryo ; 
2nd, when separated from the parent and drawing its 
food from the surrounding medium. On analysing the 
proximate principles contained in the seed or egg, we 
find them belonging to the principal types subsequently 
found in the developed being. And if — in passing from 
oviparous to mammiferous animals — we examine the 
young animal in reference to the milk which for a long 
while forms its entire nourishment, we find a perfect 
correspondence between the aliment and the structure. 
The proximate principles of milk are " fitted to combine 
molecule to molecule with the principles — exactly coi- 
responding or analogous — already existing in the organs 
they are to nourish." 

If we consider the plant separated from its parent 
and the animal separated from its parent, we detect at 
once a capital distinction in their power of assimilating 
substance from the external world. The plant, simpler 
in its organization, is able to assimilate water and gas ; 
on the other hand, the manure necessary for its com- 
plete development presents organic matters, more or less 
altered at the moment of entrance. 

In passing from the plant to the animal, we observe 
that the more complex the organization the more com- 
plex are the aliments which nourish it, and the more 
analogous are their proximate principles to the principles 
of the organs they sustain. Thus we see that plants 
are nourished by water, carbonic acid, and other gases 
and organic matters (in the shape of manure, that is to 
say, reduced to simpler and more soluble principles) ; on 
the contrary, animals more complex and more elevated in 
the organic scale need matters more complex in proximate 
principles, and consequently more varied in properties. 
A slight modification of the foregoing statement is 



VITAL DYNAMICS. 195 

necessary, and one which leads me to correct an error 
almost if not quite universal ; the error, namely, of 
supposing that Animals are distinguished from Plants 
by their inability to nourish themselves directly with the 
materials furnished by the external world. That Plants 
can convert inorganic substances into their own sub- 
stance, but that Animals have no such power — requiting 
the intervention of plants for that purpose, — is a proposi- 
tion to be met with as beyond a doubt in every book on 
physiology. 

The proposition is erroneous; it is too absolute. The 
portion of truth it contains is this : animals cannot 
nourish themselves solely by materials taken directly 
from the inorganic world, in the way plants nourish 
themselves bv the air, water, and alkalies directlv fur- 
nished them. 

But does this mean more than that complex 
structures, by reason of their complexity, cannot be 
built up in the same way as the simple ? If animals 
were nourished in the same way and on the same 
materials as plants, we should not find such immense 
differences between them. 

Ordinary experience is sufficient to show — when once 
the idea is started, and the old assumption which men 
have received unquestioned, is questioned — that animals, 
besides converting organic substances into their own 
tissue, do also convert inorganic substances into their 
own tissue with a precision and an abundance 
scarcely surpassed by plants. They take the oxygen 
directly from the air to vitalize their blood ; they take 
the water directly from the spring ; they take salts in 
their food and out of it ; they take up iron, and various 
mineral substances, indirectly, if you will, i. e. y in their 
food ; but, nevertheless, if you deprive the food of its 
inorganic substances the animal will perish. Nay, we 
see bv the example of Birds that chalk is necessarv to 
life. In M. Chossat's experiments, pigeons were deprived 
of all chalky substances not actually in the corn he fed 



196 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

them with. At first they fattened and grew heavier. 
At the end of three months they augmented their quan- 
tity of drink — as much as eight times their previous 
quantity. They suffered from diarrhoea par insvffisanse 
de principes calcaires. Finally, they died, being utterly 
unable to sustain life without a certain amount of chalk ! 

Every physiologist knows the large proportion of in- 
organic substances in the organic tissues; especially 
water and phosphate of lime. Water forms nearly 
eighty per cent, of our bodies 3 and there is no evidence 
that any portion of this water is formed in the body.* 

We have only to consider what the Law of Assimila- 
tion is, to see at once the real nature of the proposition 
respecting Animals and Plants. The Law of Assimila- 
tion depending on the chemical relation between aliment 
and structure, it follows that the more complex the 
structure the more complex must be the food : hence 
the reason why Animals cannot nourish themselves 
solely with the aliment which suffices for the simpler 
structures of Plants. 

The gradation is as follows : — The simplest plants 
need only anorganic substances ; the higher plants need 
those substances, and also certain merorganic substances, 
the debris of organic matter — manure.f The lower 

* The statement in the text will probably startle those accus- 
tomed to consider that oxygen combines with the hydrogen of the 
food to form water — a pure hypothesis without a single direct 
observation to support it ; but the work of Eobin and Verdeil 
enables me to modify the statement so far as to say, " It is possible 
and probable, but only probable, that some water may be formed in 
the body by double decomposition, though not by direct combus- 
tion." — Traite de Chimie Anat. ii. p. 136 — 142. 

f Since this was in type the BociUe de Biologie has published 
an abstract of researches, by Verdeil and Eislet, into the composi- 
tion of the soluble substances extracted from fertile soils, in which 
it is shown that plants do not nourish themselves exclusively with 
inorganic materials, but that they also find organic materials pre- 
pared for them in the soil ; and the reason why artificial manures 
have failed is the absence of organic principles. -- Mi moires dela 
Hoc. da Bioleqie, vol. iv. p. Ill — 112. 



VITAL DYNAMICS. J 97 

animals need anorganic, merorganic, and teleorganic 
substances — air, water, salts, plants, &c. The higher 
animals also need these, but in different proportions — 
with greater preponderance of the teleorganic in pro- 
portion as the organization of the animal is more com- 
plex — (Herbivora, Carnivora). So that we must modify 
Comtek definition of animals, " organized beings nou- 
rished by matters which have once lived," as distinguished 
from Plants, " organized beings nourished by matters 
which have not lived, " and insert the word mainly into 
the definition. 

Following out this Law of Assimilation, we see the 
reason of the results obtained by Magendie, viz., that no 
organic substance will by itself suffice for aliment ; nor, 
indeed, will all the organic substances together suffice 
if deprived of the other proximate principles, i. e. the 
inorganic. It is obvious that the body, which is composed 
of three classes of principles, cannot be nourished by an 
aliment containing only one of these. Hence the fallacy 
of Liebig's celebrated argument respecting the non- 
nutritive properties of gelatine — an argument moreover 
in direct contradiction with the principles he has himself 
laid down ; gelatine alone is not nutritive, nor is albumen 
alone, nor fat alone, nor salts alone. 

Finally, it is owing to the relation between Aliment 
and Structure that the organism separates the food into 
two portions, one of which it absorbs into its interior, 
the other it rejects as unfit for use. And we trace 
the operation of the same law in the formation of the 
special tissues. The blood is the blastema from which 
one and all select their nourishment ; but each selects 
that only which bears the due relation to it. 



198 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



SECTION XIX. 

VITAL DYNAMICS : MATERIALISM OR IMMATERIALISM ? 

In passing from the study of the functions of Organic 
Life, to the more complex phenomena of results, we 
enter a new, a more difficult field ; and one in which 
the present state of the science is necessarily less per- 
fect. For to take the most immediate result, that, 
namely, which consists in the state of simultaneous and 
continuous composition and decomposition, charac- 
teristic of Vegetative Life, how can it be thoroughly 
analyzed, while assimilation on the one hand, and the 
secretions on the other, are so imperfectly studied? 
Or, passing to the question of animal heat, which may 
be considered as a second result of the spontaneous 
action of bodies to maintain, within certain limits, their 
necessary temperature, in spite of the thermometric 
variations of the ambient medium ; — this, also, has to be 
correctly analyzed. Considered under their most general 
aspect, the production and preservation of animal heat 
result from the ensemble of the physico-chemical acts 
which characterize organic life ; so that every living body 
presents a real chemical laboratory, capable of spon- 
taneously maintaining its temperature, as a consequence 
of the phenomena of composition and decomposition, 
without regard to external temperature. And what is 
said of Heat applies equally to Electricity : the undoubted 
presence and participation of which in the organism has 
led to so many chimerical hypotheses on the supposed 
identity of electricity with the Vital Force, with nervous 
action, &c. 



MATERIALISM OR IMMATERIALISM ? 199 

From the study of Organic Life, we pass to that more 
complex and special class of phenomena called Relative 
or Animal Life. And in conformity with the philosophic 
rules already laid down, our first object must be to 
ascertain what are its fundamental and distinctive phe- 
nomena : they are locomotion and sensation, dependent 
upon two fundamental properties, contractility and 
sensibility, belonging to two peculiar tissues, the mus- 
cular and the nervous. In those few words the whole 
subject is resumed. The positive biologist recognizes 
in contractility and sensibility two special and distinctive 
properties, which must be accepted- — at any rate provi- 
sionally — as ultimate facts, no more admitting of 
question or of explanation than the ultimate facts of 
gravity, heat, &c. The value of this distinction I 
cannot hope will be appreciated without some further 
elucidation ; and its capital importance induces me to 
dwell on it awhile. 

Comte remarks — and the remark is immensely signi- 
ficant — that the discovery of gravitation, the first great 
acquisition of positive Physics, was contemporaneous 
with the discovery of the circulation of the blood — the 
first fact which rendered positive Biology possible ; and 
yet what immense inequality in the progress of the two 
sciences since that day when the starting-point of both 
was reached ! Nor is this inequality solely and directly 
owing to the greater complexity of Biology ; but also to 
the philosophic Method which presided over the evolu- 
tion of Physics, compared with the vague metaphysical 
Method which has not yet ceased in Biology — a conse- 
quence, let me add, of that very complexity. No one 
inquires into the nature of gravitation, or into its cause ; 
to detect its law is deemed sufficient ; but physiologists 
are incessantly inquiring into the nature and cause of 
contractility and sensibility, unable as they are to con- 
ceive these phenomena as two ultimate facts — properties 
of two special tissues. The only distinction to be drawn 
between these vital properties and the general physical 



200 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

properties is, that they are more special; but this 
speciality does not make them more explicable, foi it is 
always in exact harmony with the corresponding 
speciality of the structure : it is only muscular tissue 
(or, more rigorously stated, it is only Fibrine) which 
presents the phenomenon of contractility; it is only 
nervous tissue which presents the phenomenon of sensi- 
bility. All those physical and chemical hypotheses 
which have been invented to explain contractility and 
sensibility, have been as unphilosophic as the ancient 
efforts to explain gravitation and chemical affinity. For, 
as Comte truly says, after all they only represent vaguely 
the mechanical transmission of impressions produced on 
the nervous extremities, but do not in any degree ex- 
plain perception, which thus remains evidently untouched, 
although it is really the most essential element of sen- 
sation. 

A certain vague sense of the vanity of these attempts 
to explain the phenomena of sensation has caused an 
indignant reaction on the part of metaphysicians, and 
by enlisting the prejudices of the majority against what 
is styled Materialism, has very seriously obstructed 
the tranquil path of inquiry. Every one feels an intense 
conviction that sensation and thought are not electricity, 
are not mere vibrations, are not " secreted by the brain 
as bile is secreted by the liver." He knows that sensa- 
tion is unlike all other things. He needs no revelation of 
Science to tell him that it is different from electricity ; and 
intimately persuaded of its speciality, he lends a willing 
ear to any harmoniously- worded explanation offered by 
the metaphysician as to its being an " immaterial prin- 
ciple," an " o'er-informing spirit," a mysterious some- 
thing which, whatever it may be, is assuredly not " blind 
unconscious matter." 

Positive philosophers have often called the quarrel 
been Materialism and Immaterialism a frivolous and 
vexatious dispute about words. But it is more than 
that. Though men squabbled about words, there were 



MATERIALISM OR IMMATERIALISM ? 201 

fundamental ideas working under them antagonistically ; 
and, on the whole, I think the metaphysicians had more 
reason on their side than we on the other gave them 
credit for. Absurd as their " immaterial principle 
superadded to the brain" must be pronounced, it had 
this merit, that it kept the distinctive speciality of the 
phenomena of sensation in view, and preserved it from 
the unscientific hypotheses of some materialists. 

That " blind unconscious matter could not think/' 
was held as a victorious argument, in spite of the as- 
sumption implied in the epithets (for the aphorism 
amounts to this, — blind matter cannot see, unconscious 
matter cannot be conscious.) To any one who looks 
steadily at the question, however, it may be shown that, 
as a matter of fact, the nervous tissue, and that only, 
being sensitive, the biological proposition simply is : 
" sensitive matter can be sensitive." To claim for this 
nervous tissue any superadded entity named Thought, 
is to desert the plain path of observation for capricious 
conjecture. As well call Strength an immaterial prin- 
ciple superadded to muscular tissue. The muscular 
action and the nervous action are two special pheno- 
mena belonging to special tissues. Science can tell you 
no more. If your mind is dissatisfied therewith, and 
demands more recondite explanation, invent one to 
please yourself, and then invent one for heat, for attrac- 
tion, for every phenomenon you conceive ; the field is 
open; imagination has wide-sweeping wings; but do 
not palm off your imagination as Science ! 

What the metaphysician says in respect of the essential 
speciality of the phenomena of thought and sensation — 
their complete distinction from other physical pheno- 
mena — is therefore to be admitted as true. He builds 
on this basis an absurd superstructure ; but the basis we 
cannot destroy. On the other hand, what the physio- 
logist says respecting the identity of thought and nervous 
action is equally indestructible. That is his basis. 
Combine the two schools into one, and you have the 



202 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 

Positive Philosopher who says, " Sensibility is an ulti- 
mate fact, not explicable, not to be assigned to a 
knowable cause, but to be recognized as the property of 
a special tissue — the nervous." 

Physiological writers on this subject are in a strange 
dilemma. Their facts and conclusions all tend to show 
the dependence of thought upon the nervous system ; 
while their old prejudices, fortified by the absurd hypo- 
theses and confusions of Materialists, forbid their 
adopting such a proposition in its naked rigour. Thus 
Todd and Bowman in their excellent work speak plainly 
enough : — 

" From these premises it may be laid down as a just 
conclusion, that the convolutions of the brain are the 
centre of intellectual action, or, more strictly, that this 
centre consists in that vast sheet of vesicular matter 
which crowns the convoluted surface of the hemispheres. 
This surface is connected with the centres of volition 
and sensation (corpora striata and optic thalami), and is 
capable at once of being excited by, or of exciting them. 
Every idea of the mind is associated with a corresponding 
change in some part or parts of this vesicular surface ; 
and, as local changes of nutrition in the expansions of 
the nerves of pure sense may give rise to subjective 
sensations of vision or hearing, so derangements of 
nutrition in the vesicular matter of this surface may 
occasion analogous phenomena of thought, the rapid de- 
velopment of ideas, which, being ill-regulated or not 
at all directed by the will, assume the form of delirious 
raving." 

Elsewhere they say : — 

" Although the workings of the mind are doubtless 
independent of the body (?), experience convinces us that 
in those combinations of thought which take place in 
the exercise of the intellect, the nervous force is called 
into play in many a devious track throughout the in- 
tricate structure of the brain. How else can we explain 
the bodily exhaustion which mental labour induces? 



MATERIALISM OR 'MMATERIALISM ? 203 

The brain often gives way, like an overwrought machine, 
under the long-sustained exercise of a vigorous intel- 
lectual effort ; and many a master mind of the present 
or a former age has, from this cause, ended his days ' a 
driveller and a show/ A frequent indication of com- 
mencing disease in the brain is the difficulty which the 
individual feels in c collecting his thoughts/ the loss of 
the power of combining his ideas, or impairment of 
memory. How many might have been saved from an 
early grave or the madhouse, had they taken in good 
time the warning of impending danger which such 
symptoms afford ! The delicate mechanism of the brain 
cannot bear up long against the incessant wear and tear 
to which men of great intellectual powers expose it, 
without frequent and prolonged periods of repose. The 
precocious exercise of the intellect in childhood is fre- 
quently prejudicial to its acquiring vigour in manhood, 
for the too early employment of the brain impairs its 
organization, and favours the development of disease. 
Emotion, when suddenly or strongly excited, or unduly 
prolonged, is most destructive to the proper texture of 
the brain, and to the operations of the mind." 

Yet having thus explicitly stated what are the plain 
results of Science, these writers, alarmed by the bugbear 
Materialism, contradict themselves, and declare the in- 
dependence of the mind. They say : — 

" The nature of the connexion between the mind and 
nervous matter has ever been, and must continue to be, 
the deepest mystery in physiology ; and they who study 
the laws of Nature, as ordinances of God, will regard it 
as one of those secrets of His counsels ' which angels 
desire to look into/ The individual experience of every 
thoughtful person, in addition to the inferences deducible 
from revealed Truth, affords convincing evidence that 
the mind can work apart from matter, and* we have 

* Note the logic of this " and" ! 



204 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

many proofs to show that the neglect of mental culti- 
vation may lead to an impaired state of cerebral nutri- 
tion ; or, on the other hand, that diseased action of the 
brain may injure or destroy the powers of the mind. 
These are fundamental truths of vast importance to the 
student of mental pathology as well as of physiology. 
It may be readily understood that mental and physical 
development should go hand in hand together, and 
mutually assist each other ; but we are not, therefore, 
authorized to conclude that mental action results from 
the physical working of the brain. The strings of the 
harp, set in motion by a skilful performer, will produce 
harmonious music if they have been previously duly 
attuned. But if the instrument be out of order, although 
the player strike the same notes, and evince equal skill 
in the movements of his fingers, nothing but the harshest 
discord will ensue. As, then, sweet melody results from 
skilful playing on a well-tuned instrument of good con- 
struction, so a sound mind, and a brain of good develop- 
ment and quality, are the necessary conditions of healthy 
and vigorous mental action." 

They here take the fact that neglect of mental culti- 
vation may lead to an impaired state of cerebral nutrition 
— that idleness of mind may lead to weakness of brain 
— as a proof of the independence of mind and its co- 
operation with the brain ! To show how complete a 
fallacy this is, we have only to consider a case precisely 
parallel. Sensibility is a property of the nervous tissue, 
a special property depending on the speciality of the 
tissue, in precisely the same sense as Contractility is a 
property of the muscular tissue. We call the collective 
manifestations of the one, Mind ; we call some of the 
other, Strength. Now let the passage just quoted be 
brought in juxtaposition with the following : — 

That Strength has an existence independent of mere 
blind weak Matter, will be evident to the experience of 
every thoughtful person. Strength, therefore, must be 









MATERIALISM OR IMMATERIALISM ? 205 

accepted as an " immaterial principle/' using tlie muscles 
as its instruments. Strength plays upon the muscles 
as a musician on the harpsichord. We have innumerable 
proofs that neglect of the exercise of this Strength leads 
to an impaired state of muscular nutrition, so that a 
man who does not employ his Strength will be found 
to have small and flaccid muscles ; while on the other 
hand — as a farther proof that Strength is independent 
of muscular fibre— any disease of the fibre will derange 
or totally destroy the powers of the muscle — as snapping 
the strings of a harpsichord will destroy its musical 
capacity ! True indeed it is that physical Strength and 
muscular development go hand in hand, but we are not 
to conclude therefrom that Strength is dependent on the 
physical condition of the -muscles ! 

Instead of such absurdity and confusion, let us calmly 
recognize what observation tells us, Adz., that Sensibility 
is the special property of a special tissue, a mystery as 
inscrutable as that of gravitation or chemical affinity.* 
We shall thus escape the coarse hypotheses of Ma- 
terialists and the absurd logic of Immaterialists. 

* This subject is recurred to further on, p. 214. 



206 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



SECTION XX. 

VITAL DYNAMICS : INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 

The study of Animal Life starts, as we have seen, from 
the localization of the two capital properties — Con- 
tractility and Sensibility — in two fundamental tissues — 
the muscular and nervous. How little this funda- 
mental position is understood by the majority of Biolo- 
gists may be gathered from the fact, that while most of 
Bichat's successors have believed Contractility to be a 
property of all the tissues, differing only in degrees of 
intensity, even the writers of the present day are divided 
on the question. In the last edition of Quain's Ana- 
tomy, the editors modified their opinion during the pro- 
gress of the work through the press ; at first inclining 
to the belief that contractility had been observed where 
no muscular fibres could be traced, and only giving up 
that opinion in obedience to more recent and conclusive 
experiments. That Contractility is the special property 
of a special tissue is the final result of the most recent 
investigations. The reader is referred to Longet's 
Traite de Physiologie, and to Todd and Bowman's 
Physiological Anatomy, for ample evidence ; meanwhile 
here is one important fact : Muscular tissue is composed 
of Fibrine, and Fibrine in the blood, immediately after 
coagulation, manifests contractility. 

The Positive nature of this conception will be better 
appreciated by seeing how even so excellent a physio- 
logist as Dr. Carpenter, while virtually accepting it, 
nevertheless wanders into the Metaphysical path, 
and gives a vague expression where precision was so 
needful. " Various attempts," he says, u have been made 



INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 207 

to show that the contraction of Muscle is an electrical 
phenomenon ; but no proof has been given that such is 
the case ; and every probability seems to be in favour of 
its being one of the manifestations of the Vital Force." 
What business this mysterious entity, Vital Force, has 
here, only a Metaphysician could imagine. The positive 
thinker, using the term Vital Force as the generalized 
expression of all the properties of organic beings, must 
conclude, that it is reasoning in a circle to call con- 
tractility " one of the manifestations of the Vital Force ;" 
whereas, by calling it the special property of a special 
tissue, he does no more than record obseived facts ; and 
should at any future time contractility be resolved into 
an electrical phenomenon, the discovery will leave the 
speciality unaltered, since the special manifestation of 
electricitv, known as muscular contraction, will alwavs 
remain associated with a special tissue known as the 
muscular tissue. 

It may be said, therefore, that in the perfect corre- 
spondence of the two ideas of Tissue and Property, a 
positive basis is given to Biology. 

We are as yet but on the threshold of this science. 
The minute researches of thousards of inquirers are 
still necessary before some of the most capital problems 
can be solved ; but the whole history of science tells us 
with what accelerated rapidity discoveries are made when 
once the right Method is thoroughly followed. Nature 
answers if we but know how to question. Her treasures 
are open if we know where to look. 

Motion and Sensation are the two capital functions 
of Animal Life. We have only to consider either of 
them a moment to be aware of the immensity of work 
still to be done before these processes are reduced to 
scientific law. Of Muscular actions, for example, some 
are notoriously voluntary, some involuntary. This 
broad distinction is as perceptible as the distinction 
between a Plant and an Animal. But as, on closer in- 



208 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 






spection, it is difficult to draw the lines of demarcation 
between plants and animals, so, also, is it to ascertain pre- 
cisely what actions are voluntary, and what involuntary. 
To take a striking example : when you hurt a frog's foot, 
and the frog leaps away, and leaps as often as you irri- 
tate it, — does not this seem clearly a case of voluntary 
action? It is not, however — at least not always, if 
ever ; it is no more voluntary than your winking when 
a hand is passed rapidly before your eyes. You must 
accept this paradoxical assertion ; for to prove it would 
require an examination of the nervous system quite 
beyond present limits. 

Not only are the voluntary actions difficult to be 
demarcated from the involuntary, but there arises a 
further complication, inasmuch as actions which, in early 
life, are perfectly beyond control of the will, become 
afterwards so completely controllable, within certain 
limits, as to deserve the name of voluntary. The excre- 
tory actions, for example, are, in infancy and certain 
diseases, wholly involuntary; yet, by the influence of 
habitual resolution, they become voluntary actions. On 
the other hand, Dr. Carpenter luminously explains what, 
after Hartley, he calls " secondary automatic actions/' 
viz., those actions which were at first performed volun- 
tarily, requiring a distinct effort of the will for each, 
and become, by repetition, so far independent of the 
will, that they are performed when the whole attention 
of the mind is bestowed elsewhere. 

Besides those actions which are automatic or involun- 
tary, there is a class of actions I should be disposed to 
further distinguish as Organic, under which would range 
the Instinctive. Who that has watched mothers with 
their children, has not been struck with the remarkable 
sameness of their deportment, even to their very tricks 
and caresses ? Who has not noticed how all children 
play alike? They use the same muscular varieties, 
throw themselves into the same complicated postures, 






INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 209 

following the same routine. These, of course, depend 
on the identity of Organization ; and they form a proper 
introduction to the study of the more special actions, 
named Instincts. These instincts are also dependent 
on organization : they are functions of the organism. 
But metaphysicians, as usual, insist upon adding to the 
mystery of Instinct a mysterious entity, to explain 
it. They range all these organic actions under a general 
term — Instinct, and then convert that general term into 
an abstract entity, which fulfils in the zoological world 
a function analogous to that of Mind in the human 
world. This implanted mystery — this shadowy semi- 
spiritual entity — named Instinct, has long been dis- 
cussed by puzzled Metaphysicians, who, denying to 
Animals the possession of Mind, solve all difficulties by 
a jugglery of words. The positive biologist sees in it a 
mystery indeed, and a mystery inexplicable, but not 
more so than any other organic phenomenon ; and, true 
to his principle of only occupying himself with laws, 
irrespective of essential causes, he treats it as a branch 
of physiology — a rudimentary reason. 

De Blainville gives this definition, — Uinstinct est la 
raison fixee ; la raison est V instinct mobile; — or, as 
the author of The Vestiges expresses it, they are " the 
same faculty in the one case definite, and in the other 
indefinite in its range of action." 

After the Instinctive Actions, we pass on to the 
study of the special Senses, as a preliminary to that 
of Intelligence ; and here let me introduce Comtek 
criticism on one point of this investigation. " The 
only point in Method which can be regarded as scienti- 
fically established, is the order according to which the 
various kinds of sensation ought to be studied ; and 
| those notions have been furnished by comparative 
anatomy rather than by physiology. It consists in 
classing the senses according to their increasing spe- 
ciality, beginning with the universal sense, that of con- 

p 



210 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

tact, and successively considering the four special senses, 
taste, smell, sight, hearing. This order is determined 
by the analysis of the animal hierarchy, since those 
senses must be held to be more special, and more 
elevated, in proportion as they appear in the ascend- 
ing scale. It is remarkable that this gradation corre- 
sponds exactly with the importance of each sense, if not 
in respect of intelligence, at any rate in respect of 
sociability. One must note, moreover, the luminous 
distinction of Gall between the passive and active states 
of each special sense. And an analogous consideration 
leads me to distinguish the senses themselves into active 
and passive, according as their action is essentially 
voluntary or involuntary. This distinction seems to me 
very marked between the senses of sight and hearing; 
the latter operating without our participation, and even 
in spite of it ; the former requiring, to a certain degree, 
our participation. It seems to me that the more pro- 
found though more vague influence exercised over us by 
music, compared with painting, arises, in a great mea- 
sure, from this diversity." 

From the Senses we pass to Intelligence, or the 
" positive study of the cerebral functions intellectual 
and moral." And here I feel that Positive Philosophy 
demands a modification of Comte's Classification, and 
instead of considering Psychology as a mere branch of 
Physiology, we ought to insert between Biology and 
Sociology another fundamental science, Psychology. I 
am glad to be able to cite John Mill on this point, as a 
balance against the authoritative weight of Auguste 
Comte. After alluding to Comtek objections to Mind 
as the object of observation, he says : — 

" But, after all has been said which can be said, 
it remains incontestable by M. Comte and by all others, 
that there do exist uniformities of succession among 
states of mind, and that these can be ascertained by 
observation and experiment. Moreover, even if it were 



INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 211 

rendered far more certain than I believe it as yet to be, 
that every mental state has a nervons state for its imme- 
diate antecedent and proximate cause, yet every one 
must admit that we are wholly ignorant of the charac- 
teristics of these nervous states ; we know not, nor can 
hope to know, in what respect one of them differs from 
another ; and our only mode of studying their succes- 
sions or coexistences must be by observing the succes- 
sions and co-existences of the mental states of which 
they are supposed to be the generators or causes. The 
successions, therefore, which obtain among mental phe- 
nomena, do not admit of being deduced from the 
physiological laws of our nervous organization • and all 
real knowledge of them must continue, for a long time 
at least if not for ever, to be sought in the direct study, 
by observation and experiment, of the mental succes- 
sions themselves. Since, therefore, the order of our 
mental phenomena must be studied in those phenomena, 
and not inferred from the laws of any phenomena more 
general, there is a distinct and separate Science of Mind. 
The relations, indeed, of that science to the Science of 
Physiology must never be overlooked or undervalued. 
It must by no means be forgotten that the laws of mind 
may be derivative laws resulting from laws of animal 
life, and that their truth, therefore, may ultimately 
depend upon physical conditions ; and the influence of 
physiological states or physiological changes in altering 
or counteracting the mental successions, is one of the 
most important departments of psychological study." 

I think, however, that Comte is better met on his 
own ground ; and if any one will turn to the section on 
Organic Chemistry, and consider the arguments which 
force a repudiation of the encroachment of Chemistry 
into the proper domain of Biology, he will see how 
irresistibly they apply to this encroachment of Biology 
into Psychology. The analogy seems complete. 

Biology is separated from Chemistry, not because 



212 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

there is any essential distinction between organic and 
inorganic matter, but because there is so wide a distinc- 
tion between the phenomena ; in like manner, we must 
separate Mind from Life, not because there is any essen- 
tial (noumenal) separation — (the former is but the out- 
growth of the latter) — but because the phenomena of 
Thought are special ; they are not the same as the 
phenomena of Life. Organic matter is a higher degree 
of complexity of inorganic matter — which special degree 
causes a speciality in its phenomena. So Thought is 
but a higher degree of Life, its speciality creating 
special phenomena. Comte proposes this test whereby 
the chemist may distinguish whether a problem truly 
belongs to his domain : — Can the problem be solved by 
the application of chemical principles alone, without the 
aid of any consideration of physiological action what- 
ever ? I put the same test to the Biologist, who cer- 
tainly will not pretend to solve many psychical problems 
upon physiological principles. If the Organic world is 
to be separated from the Inorganic, then on the same 
grounds we must separate the Psychial from the Phy- 
siological. 

It is proposed, therefore, to keep the Physical Sciences 
as Comte arranges them ; and to introduce a new fun- 
damental science — Psychology — as the basis of Socio- 
logy ; that is to say, to begin the Science of Humanity 
with a preliminary Science of Human Nature. 



psychology: a new cerebral theory. 213 



SECTION XXI. 

psychology : A new cerebral theory. 

It will be necessary in this section to set aside the 
Cours de Philosophie Positive for Comtek latest work, 
Politique Positive, in which he propounds a new cerebral 
theory, as an improvement on that propounded by Gall. 
Before doing so, however, a few general remarks may 
be permitted with reference to the object and methods of 
psychological research. 

Comparative anatomy is quite a modern Science, and 
yet, in spite of its infancy, all philosophers are sensible 
of its eminent importance in the construction of a true 
science of Biology. A necessary consequence of this study 
of comparative anatomy with a view to Biology, will 
be the study of Comparative Psychology, with a view 
to the clearer appreciation of our psychial condition; 
but as yet this new inquiry has only been pursued in a 
fitful and, so to speak, unconscious mood, owing mainly 
to the ancient prejudice against recognising anything 
like intelligence in the brute creation. " Brutes have 
instinct — men have mind :" that is the current doctrine ; 
which, deeply considered, is about as true as to say, 
brutes have four legs — men have legs and arms. For 
the arm is not more demonstrably the homologue of the 
leg, more varied in its function owing to the varied 
modification of its construction, than Intelligence is an 
advance upon Instinct, owing to the greater develop- 
ment of its organ. Comparative anatomy shows us 
that all the innumerable varieties of vertebrate structure 
are but modifications of one type ; and comparative 
Psychology will show that all the innumerable mental 
varieties are owing to various modifications of the 



214 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

nervous system. Instinct is not essentially different 
from Mind ; it is only the simpler function of a simpler 
organ. The earlier forms of mental manifestation are 
named Instinct ; the more complicated forms. Intelli- 
gence ; but as the nervous system is specifically nervous, 
whatever may be the amount of concentration in its 
central masses, so Mind is specifically Mind whatever 
the intensity or variety of its manifestations. Man 
shares with the Brute a twofold life — vegetative and 
animal : he also shares with the brute a twofold mental 
life — instinctive and rational. In ascending the scale of 
creation, we see animal life gradually encroaching on 
the supremacy of vegetative life ; and in like manner we 
see reason gaining predominance over instinct. 

The necessity of making Physiology the basis of 
Psychology is gradually becoming recognised, even 
among Metaphysicians.* How, indeed, can we ignore 
the relation of function and organ ? How can we fail 
to perceive that the problem is twofold — Given the 
function to determine the organ, and vice versa ? Even 
Metaphysicians with their " Ego," " Soul," " Immaterial 
Spirit," or by whatever name they may designate it, do 
establish an organ for the function; but, as usual with them, 
they prefer a vague unknown, unknowable " something," 
to the plain palpable anatomical structure ! So strong 
is this tendency, that even when positive science has 
demonstrated the anatomical organs, when it has shown 
the dependence of the functions on the nervous system, 
Metaphysicians still insist upon their " Spirit," and 
declare that it uses the anatomical organs as its " instru- 
ments," acting through them but independent of them. 
If, however, the physiologist were to declare that the 
Digestive Ego acts through the organs of Digestion, 
playing on them as a musician plays on a harpsichord 
— the Muscular Ego through the Muscular System 
— the Secretive Ego through the Glandular System, 

* See for example, Horell's Elements of Psychology. 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 215 

each Ego preserving its spiritual independence, we 
should not warmly applaud his reasoning. 

It may perhaps be said : u Digestion, Muscular Action, 
Secretion, Thought itself, are but the modes of activity 
of the one Spirit located in the body, the individual 
Soul, the Life, mysterious yet indisputable, which rules 
over the organism." 

The reply is simple : What that Life is we know 
not — cannot know. The mystery is impenetrable. No 
positive philosopher attempts to penetrate it ; he objects, 
however, to your calling it a Spirit, as if you kneiv ! — 
he objects to your troubling the already difficult course 
of investigation into the laws of psychological pheno- 
mena, by assumptions and dogmas relative to that Spirit, 
as if you knew ! His province is to determine function 
and organ, that he may attain positive knowledge ; to 
do so he must pursue the same course as that which has 
successfully led him to positive knowledge in other 
departments. Confining himself to such rigorous pro- 
cedure, he finds the phenomena of Digestion manifested 
only by a peculiar anatomical system, varying with the 
varying structure ; he finds the phenomena of Secretion 
likewise manifested by a peculiar system ; and finally he 
finds the phenomena of Sensation and Thought mani- 
fested by a peculiar system, varying with its structural 
complexity ; he concludes, therefore, that the phenomena 
depend on — are properties of — the nervous structure. 

What is here said of Metaphysicians applies to the 
Materialists also, for they are equally metaphysical in 
their explanations of "nervous fluid," "irritability," 
or " vibrations." No amount of ingenuity will make 
an "impression" transmitted along a nerve, either 
by mechanical "vibrations" or by fluids of the most 
mysterious quality, explain the nature of perception, 
which remains the essential fact and eternal mystery. 

Positive Philosophy recognises but one object of 
inquiry — that of laws ; and but two modes of investi- 
gating — 1st. to determine what are the specific pheno- 



216 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

mena of psychological action ; 2nd. what are the organic 
conditions on which those phenomena depend. In other 
words, functions and organs. 

The old psychology, by the predominance it gave to 
Intelligence, was led to deny intelligence to Animals, 
and naturally admitted the plausible paradox which 
reduced all our emotive actions to a principle of Selfish- 
ness (in spite of the energetic denial that paradox 
received from every man's consciousness), as if man 
had no spontaneity of action, but was always intellec- 
tually calculating results ! That Animals were Machines 
and that Men were Egotists, became logical deductions ! 

Positive Philosophy, taking its stand on actual obser- 
vation, sweeps away this and many other cobwebs, and 
if not in a condition, as yet, to elaborate a science of 
Psychology, it clears the way for one, by pointing out 
the direction which investigation must take. 

Let us now turn to Comte's cerebral theory. Before 
presenting the outline of his theory he expounds the 
Method by which alone such a system can be successfully 
elaborated, and indicates its points of diveigence from 
that of Gall, whom he nevertheless regards not only as 
the initiator of the true physiology of the brain, but also 
the one who demonstrated the seats of its main functions. 
He insists on the importance of here giving priority to 
the subjective Method, i. e., the study of mental pheno- 
mena or functions, their order of genesis and mutual 
relations. The correct analysis of these, however, and 
still more their synthesis into harmonious unity, pre- 
supposes a high condition of moral as well as intellectual 
advancement, and hence Comte holds the necessitv of a 
true sociological doctrine to be an essential condition in 
the elaboration of a complete cerebral theory ; and this 
condition Gall overlooked. The results thus attained 
are to be continually checked by that branch of the 
objective Method which was admirably applied by Gall, 
namely, the study of animal psychology. All our 
elementary faculties being held in common with animals, 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 217 

animals furnish us with a test for our analysis, and 
especially serve to correct any undue multiplication of 
primitive tendencies. 

The formula by which he describes his general principle 
is this : " Sociological inspiration controlled by Zoological 
appreciation." 

He thus rejects the empirical Method by which Gall 
attained his chief results, and builds up a priori, i. e. by 
the consideration of the mental functions, their order of 
development and relative dignity — a system the final 
confirmation of which he refers to the anatomist. But 
in rejecting GalTs Method, he declares that Gall's dis- 
coveries have supplied him with a basis and point of 
departure. 

Agir par affection, et sentir pour agir : such is the 
motto of his system, which indicates the predominance 
given to the emotive over the merely intellectual — in 
opposition to the old psychology which always subordi- 
nated the emotions to the intellect, 

This emotional life [vie affective) is divisible into Per- 
sonality and Sociality. The lower animals only mani- 
fest the first ■ the second commences with a separation 
of the sexes, and grows more and more energetic in 
proportion to the rank of the animal in the hierarchical 
scale ; so that all the higher animals exhibit both Per- 
sonality and Sociality. These may be denominated 
Egoism and Altruism. 

A just equilibrium of the two sentiments is not possi- 
ble. Personality usually predominates, even in man ; this 
preponderance is in fact essential to the development of 
each individual existence, and arises from the instinct of 
self-preservation ; but is modified by the opposite senti- 
ment, in proportion as each learns to live for others. 
Hence results the great social problem : the subjection, 
as far as possible, of Personality to Sociality, by re- 
ferring everything to Humanity as a whole. The social 
state tends towards this result, developing the weaker. 



218 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

and restraining the more energetic instinct. This per- 
manent conflict between Personality and Sociality is 
therefore to be regarded as the natural basis of a true 
general theory of Emotional life. 

This being the first step in the positive classification 
of the different elementary tendencies, it is next neces- 
sary to separate first Personality, then Sociality, into 
really fundamental instincts, and to arrange them suc- 
cessively in a scale, of which the two extremes are repre- 
sented by Egotism and Altruism. 

The situation of the organs assembled under these 
two classes of sentiment has been, in the main, correctly 
indicated by Gall. Having admitted that the cerebral 
functions progress in dignity and diminish in energy in 
proportion as they advance from the back to the front, 
we are led to place the social sentiments in the anterior 
portion of the emotional region,— the less noble instincts 
lying behind them. We are confirmed in this arrange- 
ment by the necessity of seeking the benevolent instincts 
in juxtaposition with the intellectual faculties. There 
is an especial and intimate connection between these 
two classes of superior attributes. Altruism, when 
energetic, is always found to exercise greater influence 
upon the intelligence than egotism, presenting a larger 
field for exertion, a more difficult aim, and also a more 
vigorous demand for its co-operation. 

Between purely Personal Interest and the Social 
Sentiment, there is a third more indirect interest, re- 
lating to our connexion with others, with reference to 
the personal advantages derivable from them. This 
intermediate group ought to be placed at the top of the 
lower portion of the brain, as, in classification, it natu- 
rally finds itself between complete Egotism, and pure 
Altruism. 

The direct interest which constitutes fundamental 
egotism is separable into the instincts of Preservation 
and Perfectibility ; the first, of course, the most ener- 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 219 

getic, universal, and indispensable, although the less 
noble. But we cannot look upon this as a perfectly 
simple instinct, for it becomes necessary to distinguish 
the preservation of the individual from the preservation 
of the species. Comte has given the first of these ten- 
dencies the title of nutritive, from its principal attri- 
bute ; but it must not be forgotten that there are other 
attributes, comprehending all that appertains to the ma- 
terial preservation of the individual. This is the most 
universal of all instincts, the existence of every animal 
depending on it, and it is therefore preponderant, even 
in man. 

Gall assigns no special locality to this faculty, proba- 
bly because of its universal importance, which, according 
to ancient physiological prejudices, would be incom- 
patible with a fixed seat. But this could only be the 
case with animals the very lowest in the scale, and of 
such extreme structural simplicity as to present no ana- 
tomical distinction whatever. In every other instance, 
this special organ must exist, and must necessarily in- 
crease in importance as the animal rises higher in the 
scale of development, acquiring new and varied inch- 
nations, whose impulses might overpower the instinct of 
preservation, had it not a distinct faculty. In accordance 
with the preceding principles, it should be sought at the 
brain, closely adjoining the seat of motive power and of 
vegetative life. Comte places it in the centre of the 
cerebellum, — the remaining portion of which is the seat 
of the reproductive instinct, imagined by Gall to occupy 
the whole. 

Two separate instincts combine for the preservation of 
the species, — the one sexual, the other maternal. The 
former is more energetic and less elevated than the 
latter ; and in descending the animal scale, we some- 
times find the maternal instinct altogether wanting, even 
in cases where complete separation of the sexes exists. 

Such is the arrangement of the three first divisions of 



220 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the emotional series, comprehending the three pre- 
servative instincts, — the nutritive, the sexual, and the 
maternal. The decrease of energy, in proportion to the 
elevation, is very remarkable here, — and a corresponding 
gradation is observable in the position of their respective 
organs, — in the centre of the cerebellum, its sides, and the 
base of the inferior portion of the cerebrum. Continuity 
of action, a quality attributable generally to the whole 
of the emotional faculties, is principally apparent in the 
first or nutritive instinct ; but its occasional suspension 
in the other two is usually referable to peculiar circum- 
stances which may check or divert their natural im- 
pulses. 

Next to the group of the faculties of Preservation, we 
find a combination of the two instincts of Perfectibility 
which are designated by the titles of military and in- 
dustrial. More dignified and less energetic than the 
preceding, they still approximate to fundamental egotism, 
influencing the individual by motives of purely personal 
interest. They act by opposite, yet constantly coexistent 
methods, the destruction of obstacles, and the creation of 
aids, the former the most energetic, easy, and universal. 
The industrial instinct appears at first sight to belong almost 
exclusively to man, but we recognise it in all those ani- 
mals which possess the faculty of construction, often 
called into exercise by the preservative instincts, es- 
pecially the maternal. According to our theory, the 
seat of both these faculties must be the back of the head, 
and the military instinct should be placed on either side 
of the organ of maternity, and the industrial immediately 
above that faculty. 

The five egotistical tendencies thus classified, it be- 
comes easy to extend the emotional series to those inter- 
mediate instincts which gradually approximate to the 
social end of the scale. This transition is accomplished 
by two faculties of totally distinct nature, though often 
confounded : pride, or love of power, and vanity, or love 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 221 

of approbation. Originally personal instincts, they 
become social by the modification of external circum- 
stances, in the process of satisfying their impulses. 
Vanity, as Gall has recognized, approximates more to 
sociality than pride. Each aspires towards personal as- 
cendancy, the one by force, the other by opinion. Pride 
would command ; yanity would persuade or convince. 

There can be no difficulty in determining the position 
of these organs. Pride, as the more personal, is situated 
lowest, on either side of the industrial faculty; and 
vanity, as the more social, immediately above, thus termi- 
nating, as it began, the region of intermediate sentiments 
by a cerebral organ. Thus is the series of the seven 
personal instincts, common to all the superior animals, 
complete. 

This arrangement gradually prepares the way for the 
noble termination of the emotional series by the group 
of social or altruistic instincts. Here we find the 
relative increase of dignity and decrease of energy 
strongly marked. The inferior energy is in some 
measure compensated by the greater facility of action, 
as individuals do not interfere with each other in the 
simultaneous exertion of these faculties, but benefit by 
participation. These nobler instincts are not confined 
to man ; inaeeci, they may be studied with peculiar ad- 
vantage in animals, — free from the modifications of 
social and mental influences. 

In every complex existence, the general harmony de- 
pends upon the preponderance of some chief impulse, to 
which all the others must be subordinate. This pre- 
ponderating influence must be either egotistic or al- 
truistic. It is not only in a social point of view that the 
superiority of the latter sentiment is felt ; it influences 
no less strongly the moral condition of the individual. 
A character governed by the inferior instincts alone, 
can have neither stability nor fixed purposes; these 
qualities are alone attained under the empire of the im- 



223 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

pulses which prompt man to live for others. Every 
individual, man or animal, accustomed to live for self 
alone, is condemned to a miserable alternation of ignoble 
torpor or feverish activity. Even personal happiness 
and merit therefore depend on the predominance of the 
sympathetic instincts. Progress towards such a moral 
condition should be the object of every living being. 
To live for others is thus the natural conclusion of all 
Positive Morality. 

It is reserved for Man alone to carry out this system 
to its highest development ; but the inferior races par- 
take in its advantages, according to their capabilities ; 
exchanging savage independence for voluntary sub- 
mission. The extension of this benefit to all classes of 
created beings capable of improvement is one of the 
most important results of our own moral regeneration. 
But such extension presupposes the same instincts as 
those which, under more favourable circumstances, ele- 
vate humanity ; and such noble instincts are resident in 
all animals capable of being tamed by man. 

The nobler instincts are few in number. Gall has 
classified them as Attachment, Veneration, and the su- 
preme instinct Benevolence. The sympathetic affections 
must be distinguished as special or general. In the first 
case, they are more intense but less elevated. The 
faculty of attachment, circumscribed in its objects, unites 
two beings only, and is developed in animals as strongly 
as in man. The other special sympathy, Veneration, 
though also determinate in its objects, has a more ex- 
tended scope. An important element in it is voluntary 
submission. This also is found in animals, but not so 
universally as the preceding instinct. This grand senti- 
ment constitutes a link between individual affection and 
universal benevolence. The last mentioned faculty, — 
the extreme limit of the emotional series, varies, not in 
character but in application and degree, — extending 
from the vast sentiment of patriotism to individual sym- 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 223 

pathy. Animals undoubtedly possess it, but in an 
inferior degree. 

In terminating this arrangement of the emotional 
series, Comte points out its vast moral importance. 
The gradation of the social sentiments ought to be fully 
understood, that educational discipline may be founded 
on the sympathetic tendencies, of which the supreme 
sentiment must be regarded as the final limit, and ought 
only to be approached by these successive stages. 

The situation of the three nobler instincts has been 
correctly indicated by Gall, with the exception of the 
first, or faculty of Attachment, which, from defect of 
system, he has located with the egotistical organs, and 
apart from the two other sympathetic instincts. Be- 
nevolence is situated at the centre, at the highest point 
of the cerebrum, and Veneration immediately behind it. 
Between these organs and that of the highest personal 
instinct there is a space, to be hereafter filled by one 
of the active functions. Attachment is situated on either 
side of Veneration, and at its base communicates with 
the organ of Vanity, — maintaining thus the continuity 
of the emotional region. The superiority justly at- 
tributed by Gall to central organs marks the importance 
of this social region, comprehending two single and one 
double organ, while the region of the personal instincts 
contains four double to three single. The highest point 
of the emotional region, so closely allied to the specu- 
lative faculties, has less connexion than the rest with 
the seat of motion and of vegetative life. The continuity 
of action, attributed to the emotional instincts, extends, 
in degree, to the social series. 

The principal value of this arrangement is in assisting 
us to classify different natures and dispositions. This 
was seen and attempted by Gall, but unsuccessfully, 
owing to the philosophical defect in his method of en- 
quiry. Comte introduces it here, because the principle 
should be first applied to the emotional faculties, as the 



224 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

distinguishing type of character must mainly depend on 
the more energetic and habitual impulses, and can be 
only modifiable by the intellectual influences. Gall errs in 
not perceiving the radical identity of man and animals, the 
difference between them being only direction and degree. 

In considering the ten elementary instincts which 
form the great emotional series, — five purely personal, 
three purely social, and two intermediate, partaking 
of both natures, ordinary observation at once leads us 
to a natural classification of the different types of each 
race, according to the nature of the predominating 
instinct. Dispositions influenced by the purely egotistic 
impulses, we call popularly " bad," and apply the term 
" good" to those in which altruism predominates. But 
the number of these extreme types of either tendency is 
comparatively small ; the majority of characters in all 
races are alternately governed by either class of senti- 
ment, and oscillate between the two. We must distin- 
guish a third type, swayed principally by the two 
intermediate instincts, forming, in the social races, the 
class from whence the governing spirits are taken, and 
acting by command or by persuasion, according as the 
more personal or social of the two faculties predominates. 
Although it is the constitution of the emotional region 
which principally determines the type of a character, its 
development depends greatly on the influences exerted 
by the intellectual and other faculties. The original 
disposition remains, however, always discoverable on 
careful investigation, in animals as in man. 

We must now proceed to the analysis of the specula- 
tive faculties, which suggest the means of satisfying the 
emotional impulses, and then the active faculties, which 
preside over the execution of the projects thus formed. 

Comte differs so essentially from the doctrines of Gall 
respecting the intellectual faculties, that it is necessary to 
preface this division of the subject with a statement of their 
principal points of variance. The logical deficiencies of 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 225 

GalTs method of enquiry have been the source of less error 
in treating of the emotional faculties, because they were 
checked by common sense and observation, and by the 
study of animals, where the simple instincts are to be 
found less modified by mental or social influences. He 
had also sufficient speculative boldness to disregard the 
metaphysical ambiguities with which preceding philoso- 
phers had concealed the truth, and having escaped this, 
the chief danger, instinctive sense and observation taught 
him to regard the heart as the chief source and ruler of 
moral life. 

In treating of the intellectual functions his errors 
became more serious, unchecked by the two sources of 
correct influence he had hitherto enjoyed, (popular 
opinion, and the study of animal natures). Extensive 
generalization, founded on the positive laws of develop- 
ment, is necessary to the appreciation of the progress of 
the intellectual functions. Gall, in avoiding the errors 
of faulty generalizations, and unable to replace them 
by a sounder theory, lost himself in particular and 
sometimes frivolous distinctions. Detecting the fallacy 
of the doctrines then current upon the supremacy of the 
external senses, he fell into the opposite error of under- 
rating their importance, and assigned to certain cerebral 
organs the principal attributes of sight and hearing. 

In GalTs attack upon the doctrines of the Psycho- 
logists and Ideologists, there is nothing satisfactorily 
determined except in his negative discussion, where he 
has clearly demonstrated the fallacy of their logical 
explanations, analyzing the different faculties of will, 
memory, attention, &c, defined by his opponents as 
elementarv attributes. But he is not so successful in 
the theory he attempts to substitute for these learned 
puerilities, respecting these general phenomena as so 
many modes of action, common to all the true cerebral 
functions, even the emotional. The small success this 
theory has met with is in itself an argument against it, at 

Q 



226 comte's philosophy op the sciences, 

a time when freedom of thought prevails, and failure is 
not a necessary consequence of departure from old 
routine. Sociology alone has enabled Comte to replace 
it, without returning to previous errors. Before stating 
his own doctrine of the elementary functions of the 
intellect, Comte explains his analysis of those general 
conditions, which proceed, as he believes, neither from 
original faculties nor from common modes of action, 
but from the concurrence of the different mental 
operations. 

In the first place, they are limited to the intellectual 
organs ; it was a mistake of Gall to extend their influence 
to the emotional series. It is impossible to grant to 
the emotional series the attributes of memory, judgment, 
and imagination ; nor can they, notwithstanding their 
extreme sensitiveness, be said to possess sensation, pro- 
perly so called. Popular opinion has justly applied 
to instincts the epithet of "blind;" To feel, and to 
desire, are their exclusive functions. These simple 
motions result in impulses, but unguided by reflection 
or judgment, or power of self consciousness, which 
depends on the exertion of the intellectual organs. In- 
capable of reflection or judgment, the emotional organs 
cannot be susceptible of either memory or imagination, 
and any apparent exertion of those attributes is caused 
in reality by their reaction upon the intellectual faculties. 
One of the ancient intellectual attributes alone has been 
justly assigned by Gall to the emotional region, namely, — 
Will, which may even be considered to belong exclu- 
sively to it. For Will, properly so called, is the final 
state of desire, when mental deliberation has decided on 
the propriety of some predominant impulse. It is true 
the intellectual organs inspire special desires relative to 
their peculiar functions, but they are deficient in the 
energy necessary to induce action, which depends solely 
on the emotional impulse. 

Memory and imagination, then, equally with know- 



PSYCHOLOGY: A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 227 

ing and judgment, are purely intellectual attributes : 
but tliey are no more peculiar functions than they are 
universal functions. They are to be considered solely 
as different compound conditions, resulting from the 
concurrence of the true elementary functions of the 
mind, hereafter to be described. 

Nothing can be more erroneous than the theory 
formerly current of the complete separation between 
observation and reasoning. The operations of the mind 
are but a prolongation of external impressions, which 
again are reacted on by the former. Each act of 
reasoning requires a combination of these two processes. 
This is proved by the fact that the clearness of any con- 
ception depends upon the sufficiency and reiteration of 
external impressions. When these are vague and in- 
sufficient, the mind attempts to supply their place by 
its own combinations, and if the impulses to decision 
are sufficiently energetic, the intellect, unable to preserve 
a condition of pure suspense, decides upon deficient 
evidence. This state, in which the intellect instead of 
being merely the minister of the heart, becomes its slave, 
is common among animals, and is observable even in 
man ; indeed, such may be said to have been his normal 
state during his long theological infancy. 

Maintaining the habitual participation of the judgment 
in the operations hitherto attributed to sensation alone, 
Comte is far from attributing the same influence to 
memory or imagination. It is impossible to regard 
them as simple faculties, either peculiar or universal ; 
each act of memory often demanding as much mental 
elaboration as an external discovery. The immediate 
and spontaneous reproduction of every impression, which 
constitutes a law of animal life, is quite different from 
memory, properly so called, which always involves a 
niental operation. This must be even more varied and 
complex in the combinations of the imagination. The 
celebrated argument of Gall upon individual memories 



228 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

is more specious than solid. A deeper philosophical 
analysis would show that these apparent distinctions 
result from diversities of situation and training, com- 
bined with the organic difference of individual energy 
in the various functions. The one faculty especial to 
memory and imagination, is that of language. 

Intellectual faculties are of two kinds, appertaining 
respectively to conception and expression. Though the 
latter, in the normal condition, are always subordinate 
to the former, — their separate existence, demanding an 
especial organ, — is thus demonstrable. 

Expression presupposes conception, to which it is itself 
no less a necessary complement, for the purposes of 
social intercourse, and also as a means and a test of ad- 
vance and improvement. In all the Western dialects, 
the word expressive of reasoning signifies, in its Greek 
etymology, language. On the other hand, the Italian 
applies the word " ragionare" to simple recital. But 
such intimate connection must not lead to the error of 
confounding functions so essentially distinct. In infancy 
language is developed before judgment, — simple for- 
mulas are acquired which are not understood till later. 
And in after life, the unequal rapidity of these two ope- 
rations is often felt. In composition Comte says he has 
constantly remarked that expression precedes conception 
for a few sentences, and is meanwhile directed bv a sort 
of prevision of their eventual harmony.* Even if we 
limit this discrepancy to acquired knowledge only, the 
case is the same, as learning and inventing necessitate 
the same mental operations in different degrees. Gall 
was therefore right in assigning to language an especial 
organ in man, and also in all animals above that point in 
the zoological scale marked by the separation of the sexes. 

* " On commence toujours par parler des choses ; on finit quel- 
quefois par les apprendre. C'est que les mieux doues commencent 
par diviner ce qu'ils finissent ensuite par bien savoir." — Sainte 
Beuve. 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 229 

Conception, in this higher stage of development, is 
of two kinds, — distinguished as Contemplation and Re- 
flection. By the former the mind receives, through the 
medium of the senses, those external impressions en 
which all mental operations are founded. To such 
images the term "ideas" is properly applied. The office 
of the other faculty, Reflection, is the combination of 
those impressions, and their application to general con- 
duct; and its results we term "thoughts." It is an 
error to suppose that these faculties are restricted to 
man ; they are equally indispensable to the existence of 
all the superior animals, in whom the nutritive, repro- 
ductive, and maternal instincts elicit constant proofs of 
a high degree of sagacity, foresight, and invention. 

The organ of Contemplation is situated in the lower 
part of the frontal region; that of Reflection imme- 
diately above it. We are led to this arrangement by the 
propriety of seeking near the organs of sense the single 
cerebral function which is directlv connected with them, 
and of placing next to the emotional group the intel- 
lectual organ which takes cognizance of their various 
impulses. 

We have here traced the progressive order of the in- 
tellectual faculties ; first contemplative, then reflective, 
and finally communicative. But to arrive at the simple 
and fundamental nature of these functions we must still 
further analyse contemplation and reflection. We shall 
find still prevailing the principle that energy decreases 
in proportion as range of action increases. 

We are thus led to distinguish two kinds of contem- 
plation ; the one synthetical, relating to beings, and pos- 
sessing a concrete character ; the other analytical, em- 
bracing events, and consequently of a more abstract 
nature. The first is the source of real but individual 
ideas, — the second of more general, but also more arti- 
ficial conceptions. This latter is peculiarly applicable 
to Science, while the other is more so to Art. 



230 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Concrete observation is more closely dependent on 
external impressions, than abstract observation, which 
acts more indirectly, by conceptions furnished to it by 
the former. The organ of abstract observation ought 
therefore to be in immediate connection with that of 
concrete observation, but further removed from the 
organs of external sense. It is therefore situated on the 
median line ; while concrete contemplation occupies a 
double organ placed over either eye. 

The Analysis of the Reflective faculty will be clear to 
all who have rightly appreciated the positive distinction 
between induction and deduction. The process of Re- 
flection is conducted by two opposite, but equally im- 
portant methods, — by stating principles, and by drawing 
conclusions. The tendency of the former method is 
towards generalization • that of the latter, towards sys- 
tematization. To inductive reflection belongs the study 
of statical relations or resemblances ; to deductive that 
of dynamical or successive arrangement. 

According to this distinction, deductive reason, the 
higher and more subjective faculty, though the less 
direct and indispensable, ought to reside in a central 
organ, in the midst of the upper portion of the cerebrum, 
in close contact with the nobler instincts, the satisfac- 
tion of which is its constant employment. Inductive 
logic, on the contrary, occupies a double organ on either 
side, closely adjoining those faculties of observation on 
which it is principally exercised. 

In this analysis of the cerebral region devoted to the 
conceptive faculties, we observe four successive mental 
operations; 1st. the observation of beings ; 2nd. that of 
events; 3rd. the perception of principles; and 4th. of 
consequences. As to the degree in which the faculty 
is extended to the animal world, no unprejudiced ob- 
server can ignore the evidences of deductive reasoning, 
apparent in their daily existence, and indispensable to it. 

The last function of the intellectual series remaining 



PSYCHOLOGY : A NEW CEREBRAL THEORY. 231 

to be considered, namely, Expression, is the necessary 
complement of the preceding, at least in those species in 
which Sociality is in any degree developed. In the 
lower animals, where existence is purely personal, im- 
pulses find direct and simple expression in actions ; but 
in social life some more clear indication, previous to 
action, is necessary to obtain the sympathy or the assist- 
ance of others. The most simple form of expression is 
an imitation of the appropriate action • but as more com- 
plex relations arise, a language is formed, more or less 
artificial, founded originally upon natural cries or 
gestures, and becoming more fixed and extended as the 
necessity for it increases. To language we owe the 
preservation and increase of knowledge, and its trans- 
mission is the most valuable part of instruction. 

One cerebral organ influences all the different methods 
of expression which constitute language. Its simplest 
forms are actions ; but vocal sounds early become, among 
the superior animals, the principal medium for the 
formation of signs. This choice is obviously determined 
by the natural relation between the voice and the sense 
of hearing, an advantage which is not shared by imitative 
expression. 

Both these forms of expression, though principally the 
growth of social relations, are yet connected with per- 
sonal existence, exercising the corresponding muscles, 
and furnishing a means for the expansion of internal 
emotions. The tendency of feeling and expression to 
react upon one another has been always remarked ; and 
among all the superior animals, as with us, cries and 
gestures are employed to soothe or excite the passions. 

Expression constitutes undoubtedly an intellectual 
function, but is more closely allied than any other to 
the emotional, and even to the active functions. Its 
especial province being to construct a true language, or 
system of signs, it is necessary that this fifth function 
should be subordinate to the four intellectual faculties. 



232 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

whose office it is to direct and control it. Where these 
are deficient, mere verbiage is the result, the province 
of language being not to originate ideas, but to translate 
into outward expression the mental operations of the 
other intellectual powers. 

This completes the exposition of the intellectual 
faculties. Two more for the practical qualities, viz., 
Activity and Firmness, complete the series. 

I cannot close this brief abstract of Comtek psycho- 
logical theory without urging the reader to seek in the 
original work a more circumstantial statement of it. I 
have not interrupted the exposition with comments, but 
here it is right to add that this abstinence from criticism 
is not to be interpreted into entire assent. 



PAET II. 
SOCIAL SCIENCE, 



SECTION I. 

THE THREE REIGNING DOCTRINES. 

We have seen in the course of our progress through the 
Preliminary Sciences a gradually increasing complexity 
of phenomena with a corresponding increase of difficulty 
in their scientific co-ordination; hence we haye seen 
the earlier sciences completely positive, freed from 
theological and metaphysical Methods. Bat at any 
rate, even in the sciences such as Biology and Psycho- 
logy, wherein these Methods are still influential, we see a 
distinct recognition of their being sciences, and of their 
needing true scientific treatment. This is not the case 
with Social Science. It has to be created — it has first 
to get itself recognized as a possible science. Instead of 
philosophic endeavours employed in its amelioration, 
Comte finds it necessary to create a new series of initial 
conceptions — to lay the basis for a future superstructure. 
Before him no one had ever schemed a Social Science. 
That the phenomena of society — of men aggregated in 
masses — were governed by laws as absolute and rigorous 
as those governing cosmical phenomena, was barely sus- 
pected ; and nothing had been done towards their sys- 
tematic co-ordination. In the following pages a brief 



234 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

analysis of his attempts in this direction will be all I 
shall venture on. 

Comte does not natter himself that he will be able at 
once to raise this complementary branch of positive 
philosophy to the level of the preliminary sciences 
already constituted; he wishes only to set forth the 
actual possibility of conceiving and cultivating Social 
Science in the same manner as the Positive Sciences ; 
to define exactly the real philosophic character of such 
a Science, and to establish its principal basis. Before 
entering into the subject methodically, he shows the 
radical inanity of the principal attempts hitherto made, 
and the impotence of the various political systems which 
strive for the government of society. 

From the nature of modern civilization Order and 
Progress constitute two equally imperious conditions, 
the close and indissoluble combination of which must in 
future form the basis of every real political system. No 
real Order can ever be established, nor most certainlv 
can it last, unless it be fully compatible with Progress ; 
no great Progress can be accomplished unless it tend 
to the consolidation of Order. The true solution of the 
political problem will be one in which these two elements, 
far from being antagonistic, will present themselves as 
the two necessarily inseparable aspects of one principle. 
The Order not being inertia or mere fixity, but involving 
Progress as one of its constituent elements ; the Progress 
not being mere anarchy and restlessness, but involving 
Order as the vital condition of stability. Society is thus 
conceived as an Organism, in which incessant move- 
ment accompanies constant stability of form. 

The present state of the political world is still very 
distant from this final conciliation. During the half 
century in which the revolutionary crisis of modern 
societies has developed its true character, it is impossible 
to deny that an essentially retrograde spirit has con- 
stantly directed all great tentatives in favour of Order ; 



THE THREE REIGNING DOCTRINES. 285 

and on the other hand, the principal efforts made in the 
cause of Progress have always been governed by radi- 
cally anarchical doctrines. Such is the vicious circle in 
which society so vainly and painfully struggles, and 
which can terminate only by the preponderance of a new 
doctrine which shall be equally progressive and hierar- 
chical ; that is to say, which shall admit Order and 
Progress as the two indispensable conditions of political 
life. 

The present situation becomes intelligible only if we 
consider it as the continuation of the general struggle 
going on during the last three centuries for the gradual 
demolition of the ancient political system. All ideas of 
Order are borrowed solely from the doctrine which 
animated the religious and military system, considered 
especially in its Catholic and feudal constitution ; a 
doctrine which, from the positive point of view, repre- 
sents the theological state of Social Science. In the 
same way, all ideas of Progress are exclusively deduced 
from that negative philosophy, offspring of protestantism, 
which assumed its specific development in the last 
century ; these ideas represent the metaphysical state of 
Social Science. The various classes of society spontaneously 
adopt one or other of these opposite directions; according 
to their interests or their instincts, Rarely does either 
of these antagonistic doctrines present itself in its pleni- 
tude and with primitive homogeneity. They tend more 
and more to assume that exclusive existence in purely 
speculative minds only. The monstrous alliance which, 
in our day, men seek to establish between these incom- 
patible principles, characterizes in their various degrees 
the different political shades which now exist. 

Thus we have the party of Order (Tories), and the 
party of Progress (Radicals) • but we have also the in- 
termediate party of Whigs, which tries to unite the two, 
but does not, because it alternates between two systems 
instead of combining them ; and Whigs are not inaptly 
styled " Tories in opposition." 



236 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

It would be useless, Comte says, to enter into a special 
discussion of the theological doctrine in order to prove 
the necessary insufficiency of a political system which 
has been unable to sustain itself before the natural pro- 
gress of intelligence and society ! All efforts directed 
to the restoration of that system, even supposing their 
momentary success to be possible, far from restoring 
society to a normal condition, could only tend to replace 
it in the situation which compelled a revolutionary crisis, 
by forcing it to recommence with greater violence the 
destruction of a system which has long ceased to be 
compatible with the advancing state of opinion and 
civilization. 

The exclusively critical, and consequently purely 
revolutionary metaphysical doctrine, could alone irre- 
vocably destroy a system which, after aiding the first 
development of the human mind and of society, after- 
wards tended, by its very nature, to perpetuate indefi- 
nitely their childhood. But by an inevitable exaggera- 
tion, revolutionary metaphysics, after fulfilling an in- 
dispensable preliminary office in the general development 
of human society, by the demolition of the feudal and 
theological system, tends in future radically to hinder the 
final institution of political order. 

Taken as a whole, the revolutionary doctrine, by a 
direct and total subversion of the most fundamental 
political notions, represents government as the necessary 
enemy of society, against whom the latter must be in a 
continual state of suspicion and hostility, in order to 
leave it no real attributes beyond the mere functions of 
general police, without any essential participation in the 
supreme direction of the collective action and social 
development. Hence the turbulence of the revolutionary 
party ; hence, also, the wild theories fostered by it. 

If we consider the revolutionary doctrine from a more 
special point of view, it is evident that the absolute right 
of free inquiry, of which the dogma of unlimited liberty 
of conscience constitutes the fundamental principle, 



THE THREE REIGNING DOCTRINES. 237 

especially includes its immediate consequences, liberty 
of the press, liberty of education, or of every other mode 
whatever of communication among human beings. 
However salutary, and even indispensable, this great 
principle may have been hitherto, and may be still, on 
various grounds, it is nevertheless impossible to doubt, 
on examining it from a really philosophic point of view, 
that not only can it in no way constitute an organic 
principle, but that it even directly tends more and more 
to become a systematic obstacle to all true social re- 
organisation. Whatever development may be presup- 
posed in the mass of men, is it not evident that social 
Order will always of necessity remain incompatible with 
the permanent liberty granted to every one, of daily 
troubling society by discussion of its fundamental prin- 
ciples? >-^ f 

The same may be said of the dogma of equality, the 
next in importance to that of unlimited liberty, to which 
it stands moreover in natural relation, the most funda- 
mental equality being that of intellect. Applied to the 
old system, this dogma has hitherto happily seconded 
the natural development of modern civilization, by pre- 
siding over the final dissolution of the old social classifi- 
cation. It was then a principle of progress ; applied to 
the new order of things, it assumes an essentially anar- 
chical character. In fact, far from bringing us nearer 
to a chimerical equality, the progress of civilization 
tends on the contrary, by its very nature, to develope 
extreme intellectual and moral inequality, at the same 
time that it much lessens the importance of the material 
distinctions which so long kept them in abeyance. 

Applying the same reasoning to the dogma of the 
sovereignty of the people, Comte shows from this point 
of view the indispensable though transitory office of 
that revolutionary dogma as applied to the demolition 
of the ancient system, and at the same time demonstrates 
the obstacle it now constitutes to all regular institution, 
by condemning, he says, all superiors to an arbitrary 



■ 



238 COMTE^S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 

dependence on the mtdtitude of inferiors, by a sort of 
transference of the Divine right, from "Kings" to 
" Peoples." 

Finally, the general spirit of revolutionary meta 
physics manifests itself in an analogous manner when 
considered in its international relations. By the po- 
litical annulling of the ancient spiritual power, the funda- 
ment al principle of unlimited liberty of conscience at 
once determined the spontaneous dissolution of European 
Order, the maintenance of which formed one of the 
most natural functions of Papal authority. The con- 
ditions of independence and national isolation, and, 
consequently, of mutual non-intervention, which formed 
the chief features of this transitory situation, evidently I 
constituted the necessary preparation to political re- 
generation, until the sufficient manifestation of the new 
social order should disclose under what law the various j 
nations are to be finally re-associated. Until then, in- 
deed, all attempts at European coordination being in- 
evitably directed by the ancient system, would tend 
only to overrule the political science of the most 
civilized peoples, by that of the least advanced. But 
by consecrating this spirit of exclusive nationality in an 
absolute manner, revolutionary metaphysics now tend 
directly in the present day to prevent the recognition of 
social reorganisation, thus deprived of one of its prin- 
cipal characteristics, universality. 

In order to complete this estimate of the revolutionary 
doctrine, it only remains to demonstrate its radical 
inconsistency. If, from their revolutionary purpose, 
perfect cohesion among the various parts of metaphysical 
politics may be dispensed with, it is evident that at least 
the ensemble of the doctrine must never become directly 
opposed to the very progress it should assist, nor should 
it tend to maintain the essential basis of the political 
system which it is its aim to destroy. It is easy to 
prove that such is, in both respects, the present 
condition of revolutionary metaphysics. Let us first 



THE THUEE REIGNING DOCTRINES. 239 

examine it in its highest possible state, when, during 
the most advanced phase of the French Revolution, and 
after receiving its entire systematic development, it 
momentarily obtained entire political preponderance. 
Now it is precisely when having no longer to struggle 
intellectually against the ancient system, that it likewise 
developes least equivocally its spirit radically hostile to 
all real social reorganization. That opposition had al- 
ready manifested itself at the very time of the philo- 
sophic elaboration of that doctrine which is found 
throughout imbued by the strange metaphysical action 
of a pretended state of nature, the primordial and un- 
varying type of all social states. Can we wonder if, 
starting from such a principle, the revolutionary school 
has been led to conceive every political reform as des- 
tined to reestablish as completely as possible that sup- 
posed " primitive state ?" Is not that, in reality, syste- 
matically organizing universal retrogression under 
pretence of eminently progressive intentions ? 

Ever since the fundamental aberrations induced by 
the momentary triumph of revolutionary metaphysics 
began to bring it into discredit, its characteristic incon- 
sistency has especially manifested itself in another no 
less decisive form, namely, — the critical doctrine has 
been invariably led to proclaim the preservation of the 
general bases of the old political system, of which it had 
for ever destroyed the principal conditions of existence ! 

Hence we have seen Christianity (so " indispensable 
to Order \") assuming a new and simpler shape, and 
finally reduced to that vague and impotent theism which, 
by a monstrous perversion of terms, metaphysicians have 
called natural religion, as if all religion were not neces- 
sarily supernatural ! In pretending to conduct social 
reorganisation in accordance with this strange con- 
ception, the metaphysical school, notwithstanding its 
purely revolutionary tendency, has therefore implicitly 
adhered, and often, at the present day, has done so ex- 
plicitly, to the most fundamental principles of the old 



240 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

political doctrine, tliat which represents social order as 
necessarily resting on a theological basis ! * Armed with 
such a concession, the school of Bossuet and De Maistre 
will always have an incontestable logical superiority over 
the irrational detractors of Catholicism, who, whilst pro- 
claiming the necessity of a religious organisation, deny 
to it all the elements indispensable to its social reali- 
zation. 

This character of general inconsistency, which, whilst 
destroying the ancient system, yet pretends to maintain 
its essential bases, is no less marked in the temporal 
application than in the spiritual development of revo- 
lutionary metaphysics. In the former, it manifests itself 
more especially by an evident tendency to the preserva- 
tion, if not of the feudal spirit properly so called, at least 
of the military spirit which was its real origin. 

This twofold examination of theological politics and 
of metaphysical politics will suffice clearly to characterise 
the necessary insufficiency of each to obtain its own 
special end, by showing that the latter does not in reality 
better fulfil the principal conditions of Progress, than 
the former does those of Order. It is easy to see that 
in spite of their radical opposition, the retrograde and 
the revolutionary schools tend by an irresistible necessity 
mutually to keep up their political life, by virtue of their 
reciprocal neutralization. Fearing the absolute as- 
cendancy of either, though from different causes, society, 
for want of a more rational and more efficacious doctrine, 
employs each doctrine in turn, to withstand the en- 
croachments of the other. This miserable, oscillating 
constitution of our social existence will of necessity pro- 
long itself until a real and complete doctrine, organic and 
progressive, permits mankind to renounce this perilous 
and insufficient alternative by satisfying, directly and 

* Tt may not be needless to caution the reader against con- 
founding theological witli religious in this passage, as throughout 
the work. The necessity for a religious basis in all social organi- 
zation, no man has more emphatically insisted on. 



THE THREE REIGNING DOCTRINES. 241 

simultaneously, the two essential aspects of tlie great 
political problem. Until then, the chief practical use 
of each being to prevent the triumph of the other, 
they must constitute two inseparable elements of the 
political movement. Lastly, it is necessary to remark 
that each of these opposite doctrines forms an element 
in our strange political situation by assisting in the 
general position of the social problem, represented by 
one under the organic, by the other under the progres- 
sive point of view. 

The influence of the revolutionary philosophy in 
compelling social conceptions to assume a more pro- 
gressive character, has become so evident, that it needs 
no further discussion. There is but one way of super- 
seding it, which is, by carrying out its own objects 
better than it has itself been able to do. In any other 
way, all declamations against the revolutionary philo- 
sophy will fall to the ground before the invincible and 
instinctive attachment of society to principles which 
during the last three centuries have directed all its 
political progress, and which it justly considers as alone 
in the present day containing the general conditions 
indispensable to its ulterior development. It is in vain 
to deplore in the name of social order the destructive 
energy of the spirit of analysis and inquiry. That spirit 
is eminently salutary, and by its restless activity will 
end in producing a doctrine capable of satisfying all 
demands and sustaining all discussion. 

Such is the vicious circle within which the human 
intellect is now limited with regard to social ideas, 
compelled as it is, in order to maintain even im- 
perfectly the really integral position of the political 
problem, to employ simultaneously two incompatible 
doctrines which cannot lead to any real solution, and 
each of which, though provisionally indispensable, must 
be held in check by the antagonism of the other ! 

A third and essentially stationary opinion, the 

R 



242 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

organ of these oscillations, and formed out of the 
remains of both, has gradually sprung up between the 
retrograde and the revolutionary doctrines. The sta- 
tionary school professes to maintain the principles of 
the old system, whilst radically obstructing its condi- 
tions of existence. In the same way, after giving a 
solemn adhesion to those principles of the revolutionary 
philosophy which constitute its sole logical force against 
the retrograde doctrine, it prevents their development, 
by suggesting far-fetched obstacles to their daily applica- 
tion. In a word, this policy, so proudly disdainful of 
Utopias, proposes the most chimerical of Utopias, 
seeking to fix society in a contradictory situation 
between retrogression and regeneration, by an anta- 
gonism of the instinct of Order with that of Progress. 
Such a theory is useful as a provisional organ for 
lessening the danger of the preponderance of one 
or other philosophy, and helps to prepare the final 
social regeneration. But it is clear that the final re- 
organization of modern society can be in no way guided 
by such a theory; a theory which in its temporary 
utility has but the purely negative and imperfectly ful- 
filled object of preventing kings from retrogression, and 
peoples from revolutions ! 



ATTEMPTS TO CREATE A DOCTRINE. 243 



SECTION II. 

ATTEMPTS TO CREATE A DOCTRINE. 

The foregoing analysis of the systems which at present 
rule political discussions, has demonstrated their inability 
to direct social reorganization. It now only remains 
for us to point out the principal social dangers which 
result from the prolongation of such an intellectual 
condition, and which, from their very nature, grow worse 
day by day. 

The most universal consequence of this situation, 
its most direct and most hurtful result, the first source 
of all other disorders, consists in the increasing ex- 
tension of intellectual anarchy. The evil has already 
gone so far that all political opinions, although uni- 
formly drawn from the triple general basis indicated 
in the last section, take an individual character, 
owing to the innumerable shades of opinion possible 
through the mixture of the three systems. It grows 
more and more impossible to make even a few adhere 
to an explicit profession of political faith, except in the 
vagueness and ambiguity of an artificial language which 
seeks to produce the appearance of a co-operation which 
cannot exist. Such is the eminently complex nature of 
social questions, that even without any sophistical inten- 
tions the pro or con. may be pleaded in an extremely 
plausible manner upon almost all points. In the melan- 
choly daily course of our political struggles, the most 
honest men are naturally led to tax one another 
with folly or depravity, on account of the oppositicn 
of their social principles. On the other hand, on every 



244 COMTE^S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 

grave occurrence, the most opposite political maxims 
are habitually maintained by partisans equally worthy 
of admiration. How could the continual influence 
of a spectacle so essentially incompatible with any 
profound conviction, leave any real political morality 
either among those who participate in it, or those 
who witness it? Its dissolving action makes itself 
felt with increasing intensity, in questions of do- 
mestic, and even personal morality, that necessary 
foundation of all others. It is clear that the elements 
of all sociability are compromised by discussions which, 
not being subjected to real and universally recognised 
principles, only tend to perplex and discredit the ordi- 
nary ideas of morality, by bringing them into question 
when no solution is practicable. 

As a necessary consequence of such disorder follows 
the second characteristic of our situation, " systematic 
corruption organized into an indispensable means of 
government." Not only does intellectual disorder 
permit the development of political corruption, the 
all extensive practice of which would be impossible 
if there were sincere and universal convictions, but 
necessarily compels it as the sole practicable means 
of determining a certain effective convergence, which 
social Order cannot completely do without. So that, 
by an evident harmony, corruption on a large scale 
will cease to be possible, as soon as society is 
able to bear better discipline. Until then, one may 
reckon on the inevitable increase of that wretched 
expedient, as is testified by all people who have long 
been under what is now called the " constitutional/'' or 
representative system, and have thus been forced to 
organise a certain material discipline out of profound 
intellectual and consequently moral disorder. 

The third essential symptom of our social situation 
consists in the increasing preponderance of the ma- 
terial and temporary view taken of political questions. 






ATTEMPTS TO CREATE A DOCTRINE. 245 

After confessing that the fundamental crisis of actual 
society proceeds from intellectual anarchy, it is im- 
possible too strongly to deplore that irrational unanimity 
of the political world, which, by proscribing speculative 
researches, directly tends to interdict the only issue 
out of such a situation ! 

This summary examination of the chief features of 
our social situation has confirmed our analysis of its 
various constituent elements ; the effects have shown 
themselves in perfect harmony with the causes. Theo- 
logical and metaphysical theology having hitherto 
undertaken to bring about the political reorganisation 
of modern society, and shown their incompetence, it 
evidently follows, either that the problem is not really 
capable of solution (which would be absurd), or that 
nothing remains but recourse to Positive Philosophy, 
since the human mind has vainly exhausted in fruitless 
endeavours all other intellectual methods. It has been 
proved that in its gradual evolution, more especially 
during the last three centuries, this Positive Philosophy 
has successively brought about the total reorganization 
of various anterior conceptions, to the unanimous 
satisfaction of the intellectual world. Now, how should 
a philosophy which is certainly neither anarchical 
nor retrograde with regard to astronomical, physical, 
chemical, and even biological notions, become so with 
regard to social ideas alone? "Why should this last 
category of ideas be excepted from an application which 
has gradually embraced less complicated categories, in- 
cluding that which resembles it most ? The Positive 
Philosophy, properly completed, is therefore alone able 
to preside over the final reorganization of modern 
society. 

It has been demonstrated that the radical deficiencv 
of actual society is in its nature eminently theoretical, 
and that consequently intellectual and moral reorganiza- 
tion must necessarily precede and direct political re- 
organization. Nevertheless, before proceeding to this 



246 comte's philosophy op the sciences. 

philosophical operation, it is needful to consider the 
principal philosophical efforts hitherto made to form 
social science; of which a general appreciation must 
tend to characterise the nature and spirit of this last 
branch of positive philosophy. 

The human mind has hitherto been unable to found 
social science on a really positive basis. In other 
sciences, in consequence of the immutable perpetuity of 
phenomena, rational observations were only difficult from 
the deficiency of well-trained observers. But by an excep- 
tion belonging to social science alone, and which must 
have specially tended to prolong its infancy, it is clear 
that the phenomena themselves long wanted the fulness 
and variety of development indispensable to their scien- 
tific examination, irrespectively of the conditions to be 
fulfilled by the observers. The conditions relative to 
the very succession of the phenomena, allow us, with no 
great uncertainty, to fix the present century as the 
necessary epoch for the definitive formation of social 
sciences, hitherto essentially impossible. Until now, 
indeed, the fundamental tendencies of man could never 
be sufficiently marked to become the subject of scientific 
valuation. AH idea of social progress was naturally 
impossible to the philosophers of antiquity, for want of 
sufficiently complete and mature political observations. 
Thus, not even the most eminent and judicious among 
them was able to resist the universal tendency to con- 
sider the contemporary social state as radically inferior 
to that of anterior periods. 

Montesquieu, by his Esprit des Lois, is the first philo- 
sopher who can justly be said to have laid any basis for 
social science. That which characterizes the chief force 
of this memorable work, and shows the superiority of 
its illustrious author over all contemporary philosophers, 
is the preponderating tendency to conceive political phe- 
nomena as necessarily controlled by invariably natural 
laws. 

At a period when the greatest minds, occupied with 



ATTEMPTS TO CREATE A DOCTRINE. 247 

vain metaphysical Utopias, still believed in the absolute 
and indefinite power of legislators, armed with sufficient 
authority, to modify the social condition, how much 
before his age must a man have been who dared to 
conceive the various political phenomena as, on the 
contrary, always ruled by natural laws, the exact know- 
ledge of which must serve as a rational basis to any wise 
social speculation in guiding the practical combinations 
of statesmen ! 

Unfortunately the very causes which settle so dis- 
tinctly Montesquieu' s unquestionable political pre- 
eminence over all his contemporaries, also prove the 
impossibility of any real success in an undertaking so 
premature in its principal object, and of which most 
essential preliminary conditions, whether scientific or 
political, were then far from sufficient realization. 

Since Montesquieu, the only important step towards 
the fundamental conception of Sociology is due to 
the illustrious and unfortunate Condorcet, in his me- 
morable work UEsquisse (Tun tableau historique dts 
progres de Vesprit humain. Here, although the great 
philosophical scheme planned by Montesquieu may in 
reality have been equally abortive, it nevertheless remains 
as an incontestable fact that for the first time the 
primordial scientific notion of a social progression of 
Humanity was clearly introduced, which was certainly 
not the case in Montesquieu. The general nature of 
the scheme was clearly indicated, although the whole 
undertaking still remains to be accomplished. 

Comte closes this inquiry by some philosophical 
reflections on political economy. The economists, he 
says, have persuaded themselves, in good faith, that they 
have succeeded in submitting what they call economic 
science to the positive spirit; and they daily propose 
their method as the type according to which all social 
theories must be definitively regenerated. 

One consideration, if it could be fully felt, would 



248 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

suffice clearly to characterise the necessary inanity of 
the scientific pretensions of economists, who, having 
mostly emerged from the ranks of legists and literary 
men, have certainly been unable to learn that habitual 
spirit of positive rationality which they think they have 
carried into their researches. 

When we leave the world of entities for real specu- 
lations we perceive how the economic and industrial 
analysis of society cannot be positively accomplished 
apart from its intellectual, moral, and political analysis. 
The predilection which the human mind seems to mani- 
fest in our days for what is called political economy, 
must be considered in reality a symptom of the want 
felt of at last submitting social studies to really positive 
methods. 

Another indication of this tendency manifests it- 
self by the increasing disposition towards historical 
studies, and the progress these have made within the 
last two centuries. Nevertheless, notwithstanding its 
progress, so happily destined to prepare its final rege- 
neration, history has not yet lost its essentially literary 
descriptive character. 



GENERAL SPIRIT OF SOCIOLOGY. 249 



SECTION III. 

GENERAL SPIRIT OF SOCIOLOGY. 

After these general indications, intended to show the 
urgency and opportuneness of social science, Comte 
enters upon the characteristics of the positive Method 
in the rational study of social phenomena. 

On considering the present state of social science, 
it is impossible not to recognize the combination 
of the various characters which have always dis- 
tinguished the theologico-metaphysical infancy of all 
other branches of philosophy. This situation of po- 
litical science exactly reproduces before our eyes the 
analogy of what Astrology was to Astronomy, Alchemy 
to Chemistry, and the research after the universal 
panacea to Medicine. The peculiarity which theo- 
logical politics and metaphysical politics have in com- 
mon, consists principally, as to Method, in the pre- 
ponderance of imagination over observation, and as 
to Doctrine, in the search after absolute notions ; 
whence results the tendency to exercise an arbitrary 
and indefinite action on phenomena, which are not 
believed to be subject to invariable laws. In a 
word, the general spirit of all speculations in the theo- 
logico-metaphysical state is necessarily ideal in its 
course, absolute in its conception, and arbitrary in 
its application. Now it is impossible to doubt that such 
are still at the present day the predominant charac- 
teristics of social speculations. 

Positive philosophy follows a very different course ; it 
is characterised by that necessary and permanent 
subordination of the imagination to observation which 



250 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

specially constitutes the scientific spirit, in opposition 
to the theological or metaphysical spirit. By virtue of 
their superior complexity, and their more intimate 
connection with human passions, it was natural that 
political speculations should be plunged deeper and 
longer than any other in this deplorable philosophic 
situation, in which they still languish, whilst more simple 
and less stimulating studies have been successively freed 
from it during the last three centuries. As Hobbes 
sarcastically remarked, even the axioms of geometry 
would be disputed if men's passions were implicated in 
them. 

If, instead of considering the general spirit of positive 
philosophy, we consider the character of scientific con- 
ceptions, it is easy to perceive that Positivism is princi- 
pally distinguished from the theologico-metaphysical 
philosophy by a constant and irresistible tendency to 
render relative all the notions which at first were 
absolute. The relative character of scientific concep- 
tions is inseparable from the true notion of natural 
laws; the chimerical tendency to absolute knowledge 
spontaneously accompanies the use of theological 
fictions or metaphysical entities. Although man's 
power of modifying phenomena at his own pleasure can 
only result from knowledge of their natural laws, it 
is nevertheless incontestable that the infancy of human 
reason necessarily coincided with the characteristic 
pretension of exercising an unlimited action upon 
corresponding phenomena. The history of human 
opinion clearly verifies this aberration with regard to 
stronomical, physical, chemical, and even biological 
phenomena. The error now only survives in social 
phenomena. Indeed, it is evident that notwithstanding 
the tendency of the public mind towards a healthier 
philosophy, the preponderating disposition of statesmen 
and even of civilians, whether of the theological or meta- 
physical school, still habitually consists in conceiving 



GENERAL SPIRIT OF SOCIOLOGY. 251 

social phenomena as indefinitely and arbitrarily modifi- 
able, by continuing to suppose the human species as 
deficient in all spontaneous impulse, and always ready 
passively to endure the influence of a legislator, whether 
temporal or spiritual, provided he be invested with suf- 
ficient authority. It is perfectly impossible to establish 
any stable and general notion on politics, whilst human 
society is regarded as moving without free will of its 
own, under the arbitrary impulsion of the legislator. 
In the future, therefore, no order or agreement are pos- 
sible in political philosophy without subjecting social 
phenomena to invariable natural laws ; that is to say, 
without introducing into the study of social phenomena 
the same positive spirit which has already regenerated 
and disciplined all other branches of human specula- 
tion. 

The principle of Sociology consists in conceiving 
social phenomena as inevitably subjected to natural 
laws. We must first fix the peculiar character of these 
laws. To obtain this result, we must extend a truly 
scientific distinction to social phenomena, by con- 
sidering separately, but always with a view to an 
exact systematic co-ordination, the static and dynamic 
aspect of each subject of positive study. In Biology, 
this indispensable analysis enables us to distinguish be- 
tween the purely anatomical or static point of view, 
relative to organization, and the physiological or dy- 
namic point of view, directly relating to life. In Soci- 
ology, this analysis must play an analogous part, dis- 
tinguishing between the study of the conditions 
whereby Sociology exists, and that of the lairs of 
its continuous movement. This scientific dualism cor- 
responds with the twofold connection of Order and 
Progress ; for it is evident that the static study of the 
social organism must coincide with the positive theory 
of Order ; and the dynamic study of the collective exist- 



252 comte's philosophy op the sciences. 

ence of Humanity must constitute the positive theory of 
social Progress. 

Sociology thus unites the two equally fundamental 
ideas of Order and Progress, the radical opposition 
of which we have perceived to constitute the principal 
characteristic symptom of the profound perturbation 
of modern society. 

Social anatomy, Static Sociology, has for its object 
the positive study, at once experimental and rational, 
of the mutual action and reaction which all the por- 
tions of the social system continually exercise upon 
each other. 

Without here establishing the theory of Authority, it 
is evident from the very nature of the social state that 
all power is necessarily ow T ing to a corresponding 
assent (either spontaneous or premeditated, explicit or 
implied) of the various individual wills, concurring in 
a general course of action, of which this power is at 
first the organ, and afterwards the regulator. Thus 
Authority results from agreement, not agreement from 
Authority ; so that no great power could result but from 
strongly preponderating inclinations in the society in 
which it is established ; and when nothing strongly 
preponderates, the authorities are feeble and languish- 
ing- 

This consensus of social organization is the principle 

of static sociology. We have only to conceive the 
political system according to its relation, some- 
times special, sometimes general, with the correspond- 
ing civilization. Positive philosophy, by indicating 
the spontaneous conformity of each effective political 
system with a corresponding civilization, also teaches 
that this natural Order must often be very imperfect, in 
consequence of the extreme complication of phenomena. 
Far from forbidding human intervention, such a phi- 
losophy eminently demands its wise and active apphca- 



GENERAL SPIRIT OF SOCIOLOGY. 253 

tion, by directly representing social phenomena as being 
by their very nature at once those most easily modified, 
and those which most need modifying. 

Although the static conception of social organization 
must constitute the basis of all Sociology, we must never- 
theless acknowledge that not only do social dynamics 
form the part most directly interesting, especially in our 
day, but that they alone give to the new science its most 
decisive philosophical character, by clearly developing 
the notion which distinguishes Sociology from Biology ; 
that is to say, the idea of continuous progress, or of the 
gradual development of Humanity. 

For the more facile appreciation of this idea, it 
is necessary to establish the hypothesis of a single 
people, to which all the consecutive social modifica- 
tions observed among distinct populations should 
be referred. This done, the true spirit of dynamic 
sociology consists in conceiving each of those con- 
secutive social conditions as the necessary result of 
the one preceding it, and the indispensable impulse to 
the one following it, in accordance with the luminous 
axiom of the great Leibnitz : The present is preg- 
nant with the future. The object of science is there- 
fore to discover the constant laws which rule this 
continuity, and determine the march of human deve- 
lopment. In a word, in social dynamics we study the 
laws of succession, whilst in social statics we study the 
laws of co-existence ; so that the application of the 
former is to furnish the real theory of Progress to 
practical politics, whilst the latter spontaneously forms 
that of Order. 

At all times, and in all places, the ordinary course of 
individual life, notwithstanding its extreme brevity, 
has enabled men to perceive certain notable modifica- 
tions which have taken place in the social state. Now, 
it is the gradual but continuous accumulation of these 
successive changes which constitute the social move- 



254 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

ment. Under whatever aspect we consider society, its 
successive modifications will always be found subjected 
to a determined order, of which the rational explanation 
is already possible in a sufficient number of cases for us 
to hope that we shall ultimately be able to detect it. 
This order presents moreover a remarkable fixity, which 
is very apparent when we compare the parallel develop- 
ments observed among distinct and independent popu- 
lations. It is a conception without which no real social 
science can exist ; and it presents the most incontestable 
reality. No discussion is possible with those blind to 
it; any more than with those who reject the funda- 
mental notions of any other science; for example, of 
the organic series in Biology, of which the Sociologic 
series constitutes the philosophic equivalent. This pre- 
liminary conception of human development must spon- 
taneously produce the general disposition to consider 
the social state as having been as perfect at each epoch, 
as the corresponding age of humanity permitted, com- 
bined with the correlative circumstances, under the 
empire of which its actual evolution was accomplished. 

This philosophic conception, without which history 
would remain radically incomprehensible, naturally be- 
comes the complement to the one before noticed in static 
Sociology. One is to Progress what the other is to Order ; 
and both necessarily result from the same evident prin- 
ciple, i. e. y from that predominance of the relative over 
the absolute point of view, which principally distin- 
guishes positive philosophy. Such a philosophic con- 
sideration only tends to bring into the habitual 
examination of social phenomena, whether past or 
present, that wise scientific indulgence which disposes 
to the better appreciation, and even to the more easy 
perception, of the true historic filiation of events. By 
such preliminary notions, static and dynamic, the 
general spirit of the new political philosophy seems 
sufficiently characterized so as to fix the rational posi- 



GENERAL SPIRIT OF SOCIOLOGY. 255 

tion of sociological questions. Without either admiring or 
reprobating political facts, seeing in them ; as in all other 
sciences, simple subjects for observation, Social Science 
considers each phenomenon from the double point of 
view of its harmony with co-existing phenomena, and of 
its connexion with anterior and posterior states of 
human development. 



256 



comte's philosophy of the sciences, 



SECTION IV. 



SOCIAL STATICS : METHOD AND ELEMENTS. 



In Sociology, as in Biology, scientific investigation em- 
ploys conjointly the three methods of the general 
Art of Observation: that is to say, Observation, Ex- 
periment, and Comparison. We must here therefore 
consider the relative position and peculiar character of 
these successive modes of procedure. 

In every order of phenomena, even the most simple, 
real Observation is only possible in as far as it is 
primarily directed and finally interpreted by some 
Theory. Such a logical necessity becomes irresistible 
when complicated phenomena are in question ; without 
the luminous indication of a previous theory, the observer 
would not know what he was to examine in the fact 
passing under his eyes. It is therefore evident that 
social observations, even more than all others, require 
the continuous use of theories destined to connect the 
present with the past. 

Facts are not wanting ; for, in this order of phenomena 
more than in any other, the most obvious are necessarily 
the most important, notwithstanding the puerile pre 
tensions of collectors of secret anecdotes; but they 
remain profoundly sterile, and even unperceived, for 
want of the intellectual dispositions and speculative 
indications indispensable to their real scientific exami- 
nation. Thus, examined according to rational views 
of solidarity or succession, social phenomena doubtless 
offer far more varied and extensive means of obser- 
vation than the other less complicated phenomena. It 



SOCIAL STATICS : METHOD AND ELEMENTS. 257 

is thus that not only the immediate inspection or direct 
description of any events whatever, but also the con- 
sideration of apparently the most insignificant customs, 
the interpretation of various sorts of monuments, the 
analysis and comparison of languages, etc., may offer to 
sociology useful means of positive examination : in a 
word, everyone may succeed in converting into precious 
sociological indications the impressions received from 
almost all the facts of social existence. 

The second art of observing, or Experiment, properly 
so called, is here only exercised in an indirect manner, 
by applying it to pathological cases, which constitute, 
in biological studies, the real scientific equivalent of pure 
Experiment, since the natural experiences they offer us 
are eminently appropriated to the study of the complex 
phenomena of organization. Here, this pathological 
analysis consists in the examination of cases, unfortu- 
nately too frequent, in which the social laws suffer the 
perturbations seen in revolutionary periods, especially 
in the present day. 

These perturbations are, in the social organization, 
exactly analogous to individual diseases. In both cases, 
it is making a noble use of reason to apply it to the 
better unfolding of the real laws of our nature, by 
the scientific analysis of the serious disorders by 
which its development is accompanied. It is true 
that cases of social disturbance are considered unfit 
to unfold the laws of political organism, which are 
then supposed to be destroyed, or at least suspended. 
But these pathological cases cannot constitute any real 
violation. As the laws always exist in some state of 
the social organism, we can deduce with proper precau- 
tions, from the scientific analysis of perturbations, the 
positive theory of normal existence. 

The third mode of observation, or Comparison, 
necessarily predominates in all studies of which living 
bodies are the subject. The chkf point of this method 

s 



258 comte's philosophy or the sciences. 

consists in bringing together the co-existent states of 
society in different parts of the globe, considered espe- 
cially among those populations most independent of 
one another. Nothing is so proper as such a method 
for distinctly characterizing the various essential phases 
of human evolution, thenceforth susceptible of being 
simultaneously explored, so as to show their principal 
attributes in an unequivocal manner. In the first place 
this comparative method has the advantage of being 
equally applicable to the two essential orders of socio- 
logic speculations, Static and Dynamic, so as to verify 
both the laws of existence and those of movement, 
sometimes furnishing valuable indications with regard 
to each. 

In the second place, it extends in the present 
day to all possible degrees of social evolution, of 
which the characteristic features can thus be effec- 
tually submitted to our immediate observation : from the 
unfortunate inhabitants of Terra del Fuego to the most 
advanced people of Western Europe, it is impossible to 
imagine any form of social existence which is not actually 
realized in certain parts of the globe, and even, almost 
always, on several perfectly separate localities. But we 
must repeat, with regard to this application of the 
comparative method to sociology, what has been said 
already of Observation and Experiment, viz., the im- 
possibility of using such a plan usefully, without 
constantly directing its original application and final 
interpretation by a rational conception of the develop- 
ment of Humanity. 

After completing the preliminary examination of the 
general spirit which must characterize Sociology, and 
the various modes of exploration peculiar to it, we 
must now proceed to the elaboration of that great 
subject. The plan to be followed consists in examining 
successively the three principal orders of sociological 
considerations, more and more complex and special, by 



SOCIAL STATICS : METHOD AND ELEMENTS. 259 

taking into consideration the general conditions of social 
existence : first with relation to the Individual, then to 
the Family, and finally to Society, which, haying attained 
its entire scientific extension, tends to embrace the to- 
tality of the human species. 

As to what concerns the Individual, Gall has 
scientifically established the irresistible social ten- 
dency of human nature. The sociability of the human 
species, by virtue of an instinctive tendency to live 
in common, independently of all personal calculation, 
and often even in spite of the most energetic indi- 
vidual interests, cannot be contested. It is necessary 
to signalise the influence of our most important attri- 
butes in order to give Society the character which 
always belongs to it, and which its subsequent develop* 
ment can never alter. 

For this we must first consider the energetic pre- 
dominance of the emotional or affective over the in- 
tellectual faculties, which is less marked in man 
than in other animals. The intellectual faculties being 
the least energetic, their activity, if prolonged in one 
direction beyond a certain point, induces in most men 
an almost insupportable fatigue. So that by an un- 
fortunate coincidence, in order to ameliorate his primi- 
tive situation, man needs precisely the very kind of ae- 
tivity for which he is least fitted. Instead of vainly 
deploring this discordance we must note it as a first 
; essential fact which must have a radical influence on the 
general character of human societies. 

There is a second character which we must take 
into consideration : besides the general ascendan; 
of emotional over intellectual life, our least elevated in- 
stincts, those most specially egotistical, have an i 
doubted predominance over those nobler tendenc 
directly relative to sociology. 

If it were possible to destroy the preponderance of 



c 



260 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 






our personal instincts, our moral nature would be radi- 
cally destroyed, not ameliorated ; since the social affec- 
tions, henceforth deprived of an indispensable direction, 
would soon tend to degenerate into a vague and 
useless charity, devoid of all great practical utility. 
When the most advanced morality prescribed to us 
the strict obligation of loving our neighbours as our- 
selves, it expressed the fundamental principle, with 
that degree of exaggeration which the indication of a 
type demands, because the reality is only too sure to 
faU below it ! 

Such are the two natural conditions of which the 
combination determines the character of our social 
existence. We must now proceed to a similar survey 
of the second order of elementary considerations of 
social statics, i. e. those which concern the Family. 

As every system must be composed of elements 
homogeneous to it, scientific artifice does not allow So- 
ciety to be considered as made up of individuals. The 
true social unity consists in the Family alone, at least 
reduced to the elementary Couple, which constitutes its 
principal basis. No society can be so intimate as that 
admirable primitive combination by which two natures 
become almost fused into one. This perfect intimacy 
could only be established in the Family by the ener- 
getic spontaneity of a common object, combined with 
the no less natural institution of an indispensable sub- 
ordination. 

In spite of the vague notions formed in the present 
day about social Equality, all society, even the most 
limited, presupposes not only diversities but also in- 
equalities. For there can be no real society without 
permanent cooperation in one general operation, by 
distinct means, properly subordinate to one another. 
Now the most complete realization possible of those 
elementary conditions belongs to the Family a\one. 






SOCIAL STATICS : METHOD AND ELEMENTS. 261 

The attacks made on this fundamental institution 
in the present day must be considered as the most fear- 
ful symptom of our tendency to social disorganization. 
But such attacks are only dangerous because of the 
decrepitude of the creeds on which the Family, as well 
as all other social notions, are still exclusively based. 

In the course of social evolution, the organization of 
the Family progressively receives extensive modifications, 
the ensemble of which gives us, at each great epoch of 
development, the exact measure of the real importance 
of the social change then effected. The sociological 
theory of the Family may be reduced to the examination 
of two orders of necessary relations : first, the subordi- 
nation of sex ; and second, that of age ; one of which 
institutes the Family, the other maintains it. 

Doubtless the institution of marriage suffers some 
modifications in the gradual course of human evolu- 
tion ; but however radical these changes may be con- 
sidered, they will be in conformity with the invariable 
spirit of the institution, which is here our principal object. 
Now this spirit always consists in a natural subordina- 
tion of woman ; all ages of civilization reproduce this 
ineffaceable character under various forms. A just 
biological philosophy is beginning to discredit those 
chimerical revolutionary declamations on the pretended 
equality of the two sexes, by directly demonstrating, 
either by anatomical investigation or physiological obser- 
vation, the radical differences, both physical and moral, 
which, in all the animal species and the human race 
more especially, so distinctly demarcate them, notwith- 
standing the preponderance of the specific type. 

After completing this scientific examination, Sociology 
will first prove the radical incompatibility of all social 
existence with that chimerical " equality of the sexes/ 1 
by characterising the special and permanent functions 
which each must fulfil in the natural economy of the 



262 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

Family. Of the two general attributes which divide 
Humanity from Animality, — intellect and affection, — 
one demonstrates the necessary and invariable prepon- 
derance of the male sex, whilst the other directly cha- 
racterizes the indispensable moderating function devolv- 
ing on woman independently even of maternal cares, 
which evidently constitute her sweetest and most im- 
portant special destination. This invariable economy of 
the human family never can be really altered unless we 
suppose a transformation of our cerebral organism. 

Let us now consider the other element, that is to 
say, the co-relation between children and parents. 
Nothing deserves more admiration than that happy 
subordination which, after constituting the Family, 
afterwards becomes the necessary type of all social 
co-ordination. It is impossible that in more extended 
and less intimate relations the discipline of society 
can ever fully realize those admirable characteristics of 
domestic discipline ; submission can be neither so com- 
plete nor so spontaneous, protection neither so touching 
nor so devoted. But the life of the family will neverthe- 
less remain, in this respect, the school of social life, 
whether for obedience or command, which must in 
in every case approach as nearly as possible to this ele- 
mentary model. 

To complete the sociological considerations on do- 
mestic subordination, it is needful to remark its charac- 
teristic of spontaneously establishing the first notion of 
social perpetuity by connecting the future with the past. 
Whatever degree social progress may attain, it will 
always be of capital importance that man should not 
think himself born yesterday ; and that the whole of 
his institutions and manners should constantly tend to 
connect, by a proper system of intellectual and material 
signs, his memories of a past with his hopes of a 
future. 









SOCIAL STATICS : METHOD AND ELEMENTS. 263 

A philosophy which represents men of all times and 
places as being in every respect so many indispen- 
sable co-operators in a fundamental evolution, whether 
intellectual or material, moral or political, must certainly 
in the present day be considered as more suited than 
any other to develope the sentiment of social continuity, 
without incurring the danger of that servile and irrational 
admiration of the past, which formerly, under the empire 
of the theological philosophy, hindered progress. 

Having thus established the fact of the Family being 
not only the effective element of society, but as offering 
in every respect the first natural type of its radical 
constitution, we have now to consider society as com- 
posed of families and not of individuals. 

Simplicity is not the principal measure of real perfec- 
tion; biological studies show, on the contrary, that the 
increasing perfection of the animal organism consists 
in the increasing speciality of the various functions ac- 
complished by organs more and more distinct, yet 
nevertheless always interdependent. Now such is emi- 
nently the proper characteristic of our social organism. 
Is it possible to conceive anything more wonderful 
than that regular and continuous convergence of an 
immensity of individuals, each endowed with an exist- 
ence distinct and to a certain degree independent, and 
nevertheless ail ceaselessly disposed, notwithstanding the 
differences of their talents and characters, to concur by a 
multitude of various means in one general development, 
without having in the least concerted together, and most 
frequently in active unconsciousness — all fancying they 
are only following their personal impulses ? 

This invariable conciliation of the division of labour 
with the co-operation of efforts, becoming more decided 
and admirable the more complicated and extended 
society becomes, constitutes the fundamental character- 
istic of human operations, when we rise from the simply 
domestic, to the social point of view. 



264 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

The division of labour, which, constitutes the elemen- 
tary principle of society, cannot be that of the 
family. Although an habitual co-ordination between 
distinct branches of labour must to a certain degree be 
established therein, its influence is so secondary, that 
when unfortunately it remains the only connecting tie, 
domestic union tends to degenerate into a mere associa- 
tion, and often becomes dissolved. In social combina- 
tions elementary economy presents an inverse character ; 
the feeling of co-operation, until then only an accessory, 
becomes in its turn predominant, and the sympathetic 
instinct no longer forms the principal link. 

Properly to judge this co-operation and division of 
labour as constituting the essential condition of our 
social existence, domestic life alone excepted, it must be 
conceived in its philosophical extent ; that is to say,, 
applying it to all our various operations, instead of con- 
fining it to simple material habits. It then leads us to 
regard, not only individuals and classes, but also dif- 
ferent peoples, as participating in an immense common 
labour, of which the gradual development connects the 
actual operators with their predecessors, as well as with 
their successors. 

It is, therefore, division of the various occupations 
which principally constitutes social solidarity, causing 
the increasing complication of the social organism, which 
is then conceived as embracing the whole of our species. 
The habit of partial co-operation is eminently fitted to 
develope the social instinct by means of intellectual 
reaction, by inspiring each family with a constant senti- 
ment of its close dependence upon every other, and 
at the same time, of its own personal importance, each 
being enabled to consider itself as fulfilling in a certain 
degree a real public function indispensable to the general 
economy, and inseparable from the entire system. 

Thus considered, social organisation tends to repose 
on an appreciation of individual differences, by dis- 



SOCIAL STATICS : METHOD AND ELEMENTS. 265 

tributing employments in such a manner as to place 
each in the position he can best fill, not only in ac- 
cordance with his own vocation, but also with his 
education and actual position. Such is, at least, the 
ideal type to be henceforth conceived as the funda- 
mental limit of Order. To complete the indispensable 
sociologic appreciation of this distributive and special 
co-operation, we must examine the obligations imposed 
by its inconveniences. In this examination will be found 
the real scientific germ of the co-relation necessary 
between the idea of society and the idea of govern- 
ment. 

The increasing speciality of ideas and daily relations 
must tend to narrow the intellect, although sharpen- 
ing it incessantly in one direction, and still more to 
isolate particular interest from a common interest; 
whereas the social affections, gradually concentrated 
between individuals of the same profession, become 
more and more estranged from all other classes for 
want of sufficient community of manners and ideas. 
It is thus that the same principle which has alone per- 
mitted the development and extension of general 
society, in another aspect menaces to decompose it into 
a multitude of corporations, which seem hardly to belong 
to the same species. 

The social distinction of government appears especially 
to consist in restraining and preventing as much as 
possible that fatal tendency to dispersion of ideas, 
sentiments, and interests. It is clear, that the only 
means of preventing such a dispersion consists in con- 
verting this indispensable reaction into a new and 
special function, susceptible of interfering in the 
habitual accomplishment of all the various particular 
functions of social economy, to bring back constantly 
the feeling of common solidarity. It is thus that the 
participation of government should be understood in the 
fundamental development of social life, independently 



266 comte's philosophy op the sciences. 

of the commoner attributes of material order, to which 
many writers endeavour to reduce its general destination 
in the present day. 

The gradual subdivision of employments must esta- 
blish an ever-increasing subordination which tends more 
and more to the growth of government out of the very 
heart of society itself. The various special opera- 
tions naturally become placed under the direction of 
those which rank immediately above them in the scale 
of generality. This subordination is not only material, 
as is usually supposed ; it is also moral and intellectual ; 
that is to say, it demands, beyond practical submission, 
a certain corresponding degree of real confidence, either 
in the capacity or probity of the special organs, to which 
a hitherto universal function is thus entrusted. 

It is necessary to remark that moral and intellectual 
forces do not in themselves constitute a real entire com- 
position, in the simple manner of the physical forces : 
thus, although eminently susceptible of social co-opera- 
tion, they are less fitted for direct co-operation ; whence 
results a fresh cause of the more radical inequality 
which they tend to establish among men. 

If the thing to be done is a struggle of strength or 
wealth, whatever may be the superiority of an indi- 
vidual or of a family, a numerous coalition of the 
meanest social individualities will easily surpass it. But 
on the contrary, if the undertaking depend on high 
intellectual power, such as a vast scientific or poetical 
conception, there is no collection of ordinary minds, 
however extensive, which could in any way compete with 
a Descartes or a Shakspeare. It is on account of this 
eminent privilege that intellectual and moral forces 
necessarily have tended more and more to rule the social 
world, ever since a proper division of human employ- 
ments has permitted their development. 

Such is, therefore, the tendency of all society towards 
government. This tendency harmonizes in our indivi- 



SOCIAL STATICS : METHOD AND ELEMENTS. 267 

dual nature with a corresponding system of special ten- 
dencies, some towards command, some towards obedience. 
If men were naturally as ungovernable as is often sup- 
posed, bow could they ever have been disciplined ? It 
is evident, on the contrary, that we are all more or less 
inclined to respect involuntarily in our fellow creatures 
any superiority whatever, but especially a moral or in- 
tellectual superiority, exclusively of all personal desire 
to see it exercised for our advantage. Thus the spon- 
taneity of the various individual dispositions is in 
harmony with the course necessary for establishing that 
political subordination. 



268 comte's philosophy op the sciences. 



SECTION V. 

SOCIAL DYNAMICS. 

In the preceding static considerations, we have seen 
individual life characterized by direct predominance 
of personal instincts, — domestic life by the conti- 
nuous operation of sympathetic instincts, — and social 
life by the special development of intellectual influ- 
ences. This scientific connection presents the practical 
advantage of preparing the rational co-ordination of 
universal morality, at first personal, then domestic, 
and finally social ; the first subjecting the preservation 
of the individual to a wise discipline ; the second trying 
to secure the predominance of sympathy over egotism ; 
and the last, directing more and more our various incli- 
nations according to the luminous indications of Reason, 
always occupied by the consideration of the general 
economy so as to make all the faculties of our nature 
concur in one common object, in accordance with the 
laws proper to each. 

After this preliminary indication of the elementary 
theories of sociologic Statics, we now proceed to the 
study of Social Dynamics, first making an examination 
of human evolution considered as a whole. 

We must place intellectual evolution as the necessarily 
predominating principle of the complete evolution of 
Humanity. Although our feeble intelligence doubtless 
needs the first awakening and continuous stimulus of 
appetites, passions, and sentiments, it is under intellectual 
direction that human progress has always been accom- 
plished. It is only thus, and by the increasing influence 






SOCIAL DYNAMICS. 269 

of intelligence over the conduct of man and of society, 
that the gradual advance has been able to acquire those 
characteristics of consistent regularity and persevering 
continuity which distinguish it from the vague and in- 
coherent efforts of the higher animals. 

It is therefore an appreciation of the system of human 
opinions, — in a word, the general history of Philosophy, 
theological, metaphysical, and positive, which must 
necessarily preside over a rational co-ordination of our 
historical analysis. Now the true scientific principle 
consists in the great philosophic law on the constant 
and indispensable succession of three general states, — 
primarily theological, transitorily metaphysical, and 
finally positive, — through which our intelligence passes 
in all speculations. 

In order that this law may properly fulfil its scientific 
destination, it only now remains to establish as a principle, 
that material development must follow a course not only 
analogous, but even perfectly corresponding to that of 
intellectual development. 

All the various general methods of investigation 
applied to political researches have shown the primitive 
tendency of man to a military life, and his final desti- 
nation to an essentially industrial existence. 

■/ 

Thus, no one will refuse to acknowledge the continual 
decrease of the Military spirit, and the gradual ascen- 
dancy of the Industrial, to be a twofold consequence of 
our progressive evolution. The antipathy of primi- 
tive races for all regular labour evidently leaves man no 
sustained exercise of activity but that of military life, 
the only one for which he is then fitted, and which, 
moreover, constitutes the most simple means of procur- 
ing his subsistence. 

It is easy to conceive that whatever may be now the 
social preponderance of the industrial spirit, our material 
evolution long demanded an exclusive ascendancy of the 
military spirit, under the empire of which alone could 



270 COMTE S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 

human industry be properly developed. The social and 
above all the political properties of military life are in 
conformity with the high civilizing function which 
they have to fulfil, and Carlyle's one model Insti- 
tution, his one example of successful government, is 
" The Soldier." 

These attributes are admirably adapted to the nature 
and wants of primitive society, which doubtless could 
not have learnt Order in any other school but War, as 
may be inferred even in the present day, from those 
exceptional individuals whom industrial discipline cannot 
sufficiently mollify, and who in that respect represent as 
nearly as possible the original human type. 

To say the truth, the military regime must every- 
where have had, as an indispensable political basis, the 
individual slavery of the producers, in order to permit 
the warriors the free and full development of their 
characteristic activity . The institution of ancient slavery 
was therefore destined to organize a gradual preparation 
of industrial existence. However unexceptionable the 
political necessity of a long preponderating exercise of 
military activity, it is impossible to be blind to the essen- 
tially provisional nature of such a social destination, the 
importance of which must have constantly decreased as 
industrial existence was able gradually to develope 
itself. 

It is impossible not to be struck by the analogy of 
this progression with Comtek law of mental evolution, 
i. e. the necessary succession of the three principal states 
of human intelligence, and also with the embryological 
Law of provisional organs I have adduced in illustration 
(see Part I. Sect. III.) 

But besides this similarity, it is important to re- 
cognize the connexion of the two evolutions, by charac- 
terising the natural affinity which must always have 
existed, at first between the theological and the military 
spirit, then between the scientific and the industrial 



SOCIAL DYNAMICS. 271 

spirit, and consequently also, between the two transitory 
functions of metaphysicians and lawyers. The funda- 
mental bond which spontaneously unites theological to 
military power has always been keenly felt and highly 
respected, in spite of political rivalries, by all men who 
have shared in either one or the other. 

It may easily be conceived that no military regime 
could be established without first resting on a theological 
consecration, without which the requisite subordination 
would be neither complete enough nor enduring enough. 
A profound examination will in the same way show the 
necessary efficaciousness of the military regime in con- 
solidating and extending theological authority, thus 
developed by a continual political application, as the 
priestly instinct has always felt. 

It may be observed that the religious spirit is as anti- 
pathetic as the military spirit to a preponderance of the 
industrial spirit. According to the barbarous but 
rigorous logic of uncidtivated peoples, all active inter- 
vention on the part of man to ameliorate the economy 
of nature for his own benefit is an outrage upon Provi- 
dential government ! For what is industry but the 
subjugation of Nature by man? what is it but man 
creating for himself, instead of accepting what the gods 
vouchsafe ? 

It is certain that too absolute a preponderance of the 
religious spirit necessarily tends of itself to check the 
industrial tendency of Humanity, by an exaggerated 
sentiment of foolish optimism.* It is impossible to 
deny the high political influence by which industry must 
aid the progressive ascendancy of the scientific spirit in 
its antagonism to the religious spirit. 

We here terminate the rapid analysis of Comtek 
principal views with respect to the dogmatic bases of 

* Is not the use of Chloroform stigmatized as a presumptuous 
and impious attempt to evade pain ordained by the Creator ? 



272 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 






Sociology. "When the reader reflects that in the fore- 
going pages a volume of upwards of seven hundred pages 
has been compressed, he will appreciate the necessity 
for a more careful and detailed examination of the ori- 
ginal if he wish for satisfaction on any of the topics here 
so briefly indicated. He must take these pages as a 
sort of extended syllabus of a course of Lectures — a pre- 
paratory bird's eye view, enabling him to study the 
details with a full consciousness of their bearing. 

We now pass to Comtek Philosophy of History, 
wherein we shall see his sociological law applied to the 
whole past evolution of Humanity. 






AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. 273 



SECTION VI. 

AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. 

The liistorical analysis now to be sketched will con- 
centrate itself npon one social series ; that is to say, 
it will consider exclusively the actual development of 
the most advanced populations ; putting aside the other 
centres of independent civilization whose evolution has 
hitherto been impeded : unless the comparative examina- 
tion of these accessory series should be of use in throwing 
light upon the principal subject. It is only after having 
thus determined what is suitable to the elect of the 
human race, that it becomes possible to regulate a 
rational interference in the development of the less 
advanced races. 

The first intellectual condition of man must have 
necessarily begun by a state of pure fetichism ; i. e. 
by our primitive tendency to conceive all exterior 
bodies as animated with a life essentially analogous 
to our own. Although we are now sufficiently 
removed from Fetichism^ to have some difficulty in 
-conceiving it, each of us has but to retrace his own 
individual history to find it a faithful representation 
of such an initial state. Fetichism constitutes the 
foundation of the theological spirit, both in its 
elementary simplicity and in its intellectual pleni- 
tude. It is there that the celebrated formula of 
JBossuet, " Every thing was God, except God himself, 4 ' 
would be eminently appropriate. Never could the spirit 
of religion have been more directly opposed to any tine 

T 



274 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

spirit of science, with respect to even tlie simplest 
phenomena, as in that first age. 

The idea of invariable laivs must at that time have 
appeared eminently chimerical ; indeed, had it arisen 
it would have been immediately repulsed as radically 
opposed to the consecrated method, wdiich attached 
the explanation of every phenomenon to the arbi- 
trary will of the corresponding fetiche. Considered 
in its relation to the Fine Arts, the general action of 
Fetichism upon the human intellect is certainly not 
nearly so oppressive as it is in a scientific point of view. 
It is, indeed, evident that a philosophy which animated 
directly the whole of nature, must have tended to 
favour the spontaneous impulse of the imagination, at that 
time necessarily having a mental preponderance. Thus, 
the earliest attempts in all the fine arts, not excepting 
poetry, are to be traced to the age of Fetichism. As to 
industrial development, philosophically defined, that is 
to say, embracing the entire action of man upon the 
exterior world, it is to be traced to this first social age ; 
when man laid the basis of his conquest of the terrestrial 
globe. 

Industry owes to this age the first indication of its most 
powerful resources : the association of man with animals 
capable of being disciplined, the permanent use of fire, 
and the employment of mechanical powers; indeed, 
Commerce properly so called here finds its first distinct 
impulse in the institution of money. In one word, almost 
all the industrial arts and agencies have here neces- 
sarily their origin. Fetichism presents in an eminent 
degree that valuable quality inherent in the theo- 
logical system, of favouring the first efforts of human 
activity by the illusions which it inspires concerning 
the supremacy of Man, to whom the whole world 
must appear to be subordinate as long as the invari- 
ability of the laws of nature remains unrecognised. 



AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. 275 

Although that supremacy could not be realisable 
at the time except by the intervention of divine 
agency, it is evident that the continuous sentiment of 
this supreme protection must have been, at that epoch, 
eminently calculated to excite and sustain the active 
energy of man. Lastly, in the social point of view, 
Fetichism displays real properties of the highest import- 
ance. A careful induction will make us feel the necessity 
of a theological consecration in those social modifications 
in which we are now-a-days the least disposed to conceive 
its influence. It is thus we find even the simplest 
hygienic precepts could at first be established only under 
the high authority of religious prescription. In the 
same way it appears very probable that a religious in- 
fluence contributed greatly, in early times, to establish, 
and above all regulate, the continuous use of dress, 
justly regarded as one of the principal indices of a rising 
civilization. 

In spite of the vain reputation of extreme political 
ability which we are so strangely tempted to attribute to 
dissimulation and even to hypocrisy, it is happily indis- 
putable that the legislators of primitive times were as 
sincere, in general, in their theological conceptions 
regarding society, as in those which regarded the external 
world. 

All the great successive modifications of the religious 
1 spirit have been determined at first by the development 
! of the scientific spirit. The insensibly increasing gene- 
<, ralization of the diverse observations upon Humanity 
must necessarily have led to analogies in corresponding 
theological conceptions, and thus determined the trans- 
formation of Fetichism into a simple Polytheism. For 
the gods differ essentially from the pure fetiches in 
their more general and abstract character. Each 
administers a special order of phenomena, but at 
| the same time in a great number of bodies, so that each 
nas a more or less extensive department, whereas 



276 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the humble fetiche governs only one object, from which 
he is inseparable. 

Thus, in proportion as the essential similitude of cer- 
tain phenomena was recognized in diverse substances, it 
became necessary to assimilate the corresponding fetiches, 
and finally to reduce them to the principal amongst them, 
■who from that moment was raised to the rank of a god ; 
that is to say, of an ideal and habitually invisible agent, 
whose residence was no longer rigorously determined. 
Properly spealdng there could not exist a fetiche com- 
mon to various bodies. That would be a contradiction, 
each fetiche being necessarily endowed with a material 
individuality. When, for example, the similar vegeta- 
tion of the different trees in a forest of oaks led men at 
last to represent in their theological conceptions the 
phenomena common to all, this abstract being was no 
longer the fetiche of any particular tree ; he became the 
god of the forest. 

Here, then, is the intellectual passage from Fetichism 
to Polytheism reduced to the inevitable preponder- 
ance of general over individual ideas in the second 
age of our infancy, social or personal. The impulse 
given by Polytheism to the imagination of man, as well 
as its eminent social efficacy, should incline us to 
look upon this second age as the true date of the most 
intense development of the religious spirit. If we com- 
pare in thought the daily course of active life of a 
sincere polytheist with that of the most devout mono- 
theist, we shall recognize, contrary to ordinary pre- 
judices, the more intimate supremacy of the religious 
spirit in the former, whose intelligence is perpetually 
assailed on almost everv occasion and under the most 
varied forms, with a crowd of theological explanations of 
the most detailed description. 

Confining ourselves, for example, to the single case 
of visions or apparitions, according to modern theology 
they are eminently exceptional, and exclusively reserved 



AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. 277 

for some privileged individuals, with whom they have 
almost always an important destination; whereas in 
pagan times every man had experienced, even on slight 
occasions, frequent personal relations with various 
divinities, with whom he was even sometimes united by 
direct relationship. The moral and social efficacy of 
Polytheism can be thoroughly appreciated only by com- 
paring it with its principal office in human development, 
an office which essentially differs from that of Mono- 
theism: from this point of view it is evident that 
the political influence of the one was certainly neither 
less extended nor less indispensable than that of the 
other. 

In order to appreciate more completely the general 
participation of Polytheism in the evolution of human 
intelligence, it is necessary to examine it separately, — 
first under the scientific point of view, afterwards under 
the artistic or poetic point of view, and lastly under the 
industrial point of view. Under the first of these aspects, 
philosophers have hitherto appreciated too lightly the 
capital importance of the decisive step taken by the 
human intellect, when it raised itself from Fetichism to 
Polytheism, properly so called. This grand creation of 
gods constitutes the first general effort of purely specula- 
tive activity, which had hitherto in fact done nothing but 
yield to the spontaneous tendency to give direct anima- 
tion to all objects in proportion to the intensity of their 
phenomena. 

Whilst Polytheism, after having awakened speculative 
activity, gave thus a feeble rudimentary impulse to the 
scientific spirit, it tended on the other hand to philo- 
sophical meditation, by establishing a primary funda- 
mental connexion between all ideas whatsoever, which, in 
spite of its essentially chimerical nature, was then of 
infinite value. Never since that epoch have human 
conceptions possessed in any comparable degree that 
grand character of unity of method and homogeneity f 



278 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

of doctrine, which constitutes the absolutely normal 
state of our intelligence, and which it had then spon- 
taneously acquired under the free and uniform dominion 
of the theological system, placing itself immediately 
at the source of everything, and leaving nothing 
without some sort of connexion and application, through 
the uniform application of its religious conceptions. 
It is only to the yet more pure and more universal 
preponderance of Positive Philosophy that it will per- 
tain, in the approaching future, to realize in a much 
more perfect and durable manner this fundamental 
property. 

In a more special and direct point of view, we cannot 
but recognize that this religious philosophy, although 
made up of fiction and inspiration, tended directly to 
excite a certain elementary development of the spirit of 
observation and induction. Even the superstitions 
which at this day appear to us the most absurd, such as 
divination by the flight of birds, by the entrails of 
victims, &c. &c, had primarily, besides their great poli- 
tical importance, a progressive character which may 
truly be called philosophical. 

It is, for example, undeniable, as Kepler has justly 
remarked, that astrological chimeras served for a long 
time to keep up the taste for astronomical observa- 
t ons, after having first inspired it; it is thus, like 
wise, that anatomy must necessarily have collected its 
first materials from the discoveries resulting spon- 
taneously from the attentive examination of the liver, 
heart, lungs, &c, of the sacrificed animals. 

As regards the artistic influence of Polytheism, it is 
necessary to rectify an irrational exaggeration which is 
still too common, and which attributes to the fine arts 
so fundamental an office in the society of antiquity, that 
its general economy would have had really no other in- 
tellectual basis. In the age of Polytheism, as in every 
other age of Humanity, the aim and action of the fine 






AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. 279 

arts has always reposed upon a pre-existent and unani- 
mously admitted philosophy. Although, by an unavoid- 
able reaction, the poetic influence doubtless contributed 
greatly to extend and consolidate the theological empire, 
it certainly could never have established it. Neither 
in the individual nor in the species, could the faculty 
of expression ever have had dominion over the 
faculty of conception, to which it is by its very nature 
subordinate, whatever may have been the succes- 
sive development of the one or the other. Any real 
inversion of this elementary relation would tend directly 
to the fundamental disorganization of the human 
economy, individual or social. 

After this explanation, we shall be able to appreciate 
the impulse which polytheism must have given to the 
fine arts, and which raised them at that time to a degree 
of social importance never since equalled. 

We must in the first place consider as eminently 
favourable to the general advance of the fine arts, the 
fundamental property of Polytheism : that of awakening 
in the most spontaneous manner the free development of 
imagination, erected thus into the principal arbiter of 
primitive philosophy, inasmuch as it was directly invested 
with the special designation of the various fictitious 
beings, to whom the production of all phenomena what- 
soever was attributed. Such a religious constitution 
attributed to the aesthetic faculties a participation acces- 
sory, and nevertheless direct, in all theological operations; 
wlnlst under monotheism the fine arts have been 
reduced to the office of ministry, or at the utmost of 
propagation, without being allowed any part in dogmatic 
elaboration. Lastly, the general development of the 
fine arts was directly favoured by Polytheism, on account 
of the eminently popular basis which such a religion 
insured to the aesthetic action. 

The fine arts, more especially dedicated to the masses, 
must from their nature feel the need of resting upon a 



280 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

system of familiar and common opinions, the supremacy* 
of which is equally indispensable to their production 
and enjoyment. It is the absence of this condition 
in modern art which explains the small effect produced 
by so many chef-d'oeuvres. Now the aesthetic superiority 
of Polytheism is yet more irrefutable in this respect than 
in any other, for no other philosophy could have since 
obtained popularity at all comparable at the period of its 
preponderance. Monotheism itself, at the time of its 
greatest splendour, was certainly not as popular as this 
antique religion, the moral imperfections of which helped 
to increase and propagate its influence. 

The necessary aptitude of Polytheism to second the 
aesthetic evolution of Humanity is thus explained. In 
the true system of human, economy, social or individual, 
the aesthetic faculties are, in some sort, intermediate 
between the purely moral and the purely intellectual 
faculties. Their proper development may happily react 
at once upon the mind and the heart; thus constituting 
one of the most powerful agents of education, intellectual 
or moral, that we can conceive. 

If the characteristic of the human race began to 
announce itself from its earliest infancy by the ascen- 
dancy of sentiment over animal instincts, which was 
the result of Fetichism, it is impossible to doubt that 
the preponderance of imagination over sentiment, i. e., 
the aesthetic evolution in a state of Polytheism, must 
have been a great step towards the definitive state in 
which reason will openly take the reins of human govern- 
ment: a situation into which Monotheism tended 
strongly to bring us, but which cannot be completely 
realized except under the universal empire of positive 
philosophy. This appreciation serves to solve the great 
objection which the fine arts offer to the theory of human 
progress, by the single fact of their undeniable pre-emi- 
nence at a time which in every other respect evidently 
represents but the infancy of our species. 



AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. " 281 

We see now, indeed, by what a concourse of natural 
causes the principal rise of the fine arts must have 
taken place under the empire of Polytheism, with- 
out such a correspondence giving any reasonable indi- 
cation of a real ulterior diminution in the integrity 
of our aesthetic faculties. The fine arts having to 
depict our moral and social existence, it is clear that 
although suitable to every phase of Humanity, they 
must adapt themselves by preference to the most homo- 
geneous and fixed state of society, the character of which 
being more complete and well marked, admits of a more 
definite representation; and this was the case under 
the empire of Polytheism. We shall recognize, on the 
other hand, that from the beginning of the middle ages 
the modern social condition was, so to speak, one 
immense transition, without any sufficiently marked 

7 * * 

physiognomy. Various causes have concurred ta 
slacken the march of the fine arts ; and yet, far from 
having undergone any real degeneration, facts prove 
with startling evidence that the genius of Art has raised 
itself, in almost every line, to the level and even above 
the level of the most eminent productions of antiquity,, 
independently of the new path which it has opened to 
itself by many admirable chef-d'oeuvres. When, after a 
long and severe preparation, modern civilization shall have 
finally developed its true character by the general as- 
cendancy of positive philosophy, Humanity will elevate 
itself to a social state at once eminently progressive 
, and yet more homogeneous and stable than that of 
1 polytheistic antiquity, in which the fine arts will find 
a new scope and new attributes, as soon as their 
genius shall have adapted itself to the new intellectual 
system. 

Polytheism, whilst it constituted the sole philosophy 
capable of giving a primary impulse, whether scientific 
or aesthetic, to the human mind, caused on the other 



282 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 






hand the double institution of a regular worship and a 
distinct priesthood, which alone can allow of the growing 
establishment, among different families, of a true social 
organization susceptible of consistency and duration. 
In this phase of society, the nature of the worship, ad- 
mirably adapted to the correlative condition of Humanit y, 
consists, for the most pai% of numerous and varied fes- 
tivals, in which the first efforts of the fine arts find daily 
a happy means of exercise, and which frequently con- 
stitute the principal motive for habitual assemblies, 
among populations connected by a common language. 
Polytheism was in political harmony with the wants 
and condition of the human race, as well as with the 
true nature of the then prevailing system. 

Social activity would be essentially military. Al- 
though, in modern times, war, radically exceptional, has 
become rather fatal than favourable to the extension of 
the social relations, it is clear that with the ancients the 
successive annexation by means of conquest of divers 
secondary nations to one preponderant people, constituted 
the only means of increasing society, of instituting per- 
manent peace, and of conducting man to a purely industrial 
life. When we believe that with the ancients wars had 
nothing to do with religion, it is in consequence of an 
abusive extension of the point of view peculiar to modern 
nations, with whom the spiritual and the temporal are 
distinctly separated, whereas, in ancient times, they were 
intimately connected. If we may say, in one sense, 
that the ancients knew no such thing as a " religious 
war," it is precisely because all their wars had neces- 
sarily a religious character, as we may still see in ana- 
logous phases of society : since the gods were then 
essentially national, their quarrels were inevitably mixed 
up with those of the nations in whose triumphs and 
reverses they always partook. 

Polytheism thus gave a direct stimulus to the spirit of 



AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. 283 

conquest, and insured the principal social destination, by 
facilitating the gradual assimilation of the subjugated 
peoples, who could then incorporate themselves with the 
preponderating nation without renouncing the religious 
creeds and practices which were dear to them. Mono- 
theistic fanaticism does not inspire the spirit of conquest 
properly so called, because such a religion cannot admit 
of a real union with other creeds : its exclusive genius 
must naturally provoke it to the entire extermina- 
tion of the vanquished idolaters, or to their perpetual 
servitude, except in cases of immediate and complete 
conversion. 

It would be useless to explain how Polytheism afforded 
the most powerful resources for the establishment and 
maintenance of a rigorous military discipline, whose 
various prescriptions could then be so easily placed under 
a divine protection, always aptly selected, by means of 
oracles, auguries, &c. &c. constantly at command, in 
accordance with the regular system of supernatural com- 
munications which Polytheism had organized, and which 
Monotheism was forced to suppress. 

To complete this appreciation of the political pro- 
perties of Polytheism, we have now only to consider 
the instititution of Slavery, and the confusion of the 
spiritual and the temporal powers; a twofold capital 
difference between the polytheistic organization of 
ancient society and the monotheistic social organi- 
zation of modern times. One may easily perceive how 
war engenders slavery, which finds in it at once its 
principal source and its first general corrective. The 
horror with which this institution inspires us now, 
prevents our appreciating the immense progress which 
must have resulted from its original establishment, since 
it everywhere succeeded to anthropophagy or immolation 
of prisoners ; a progress which supposes a far more ex- 
. tended development, both industrial and moral, than is 



; 



284 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

generally believed. Slavery liad another office most im- 
portant to tlie ulterior development of the Imman race : 
it instituted labour ! 

Tlie more we meditate upon the profound aversion 
which any regular and sustained labour inspires in our 
defective nature, primitively to be roused from its dearly 
loved idleness by warlike instincts alone, the more 
clearly we shall perceive that slavery afforded the only 
issue for the industrial development of the human race. 
This dislike to a laborious life could, indeed, only be 
radically surmounted, with the mass of mankind, by the 
combined and sustained action of the most energetic 
stimulants; and this would be the result of slavery, 
in which labour, accepted at first in exchange for 
life, became in the sequel the means of acquiring free- 
dom. Such is the method by which the slavery of 
ancient times constituted, in the evolution of humanity, 
a means of general education, and at the same time a 
condition of special development. 

Let us now examine the second character of ancient 
social economy; that is, the confusion manifested in 
every way between the spiritual and the temporal 
power, habitually concentrated in the same person, 
while their regular separation constitutes one of the 
principal political attributes of modern civilization. 
Speculative authority, at that time purely sacerdotal, 
and executive power essentially military, were always 
united ; and this unavoidable combination had a neces- 
sary relation to the general destination recognized above, 
as proper to this system for the entire evolution of 
humanity. It is clear, indeed, that military activity 
could not have developed itself so as to fulfil its 
principal mission, if spiritual authority and temporal 
power had not been habitually concentrated in one 
directing class. 

This twofold character of the military chiefs, at once 



AGES OF FETICHXSM AND POLYTHEISM. 285 

pontiffs and warriors, constituted the most powerful sup- 
port of that severe internal discipline rendered necessary 
by the nature of the wars, and which could not otherwise 
have acquired the necessary energy and stability. In the 
same way, the collective actions of every nation upon ex- 
terior societies would have been radically checked by any 
separation between the two authorities, whose conflicts 
would then have tended almost always to trouble the 
direction of the wars, and to hinder the final realization of 
the principal results. Thus, within and without, the 
continuous development of the spirit of conquest required, 
in ancient times, a plenitude of obedience and a unity 
of conception and execution, equally incompatible with 
our modern ideas of the elementary division of the two 
great social powers. Now polytheism was radically 
incompatible with any such division. It is evident, 
indeed, that the multiplicity of the gods, by the 
dispersion of theological action resulting therefrom, 
opposes itself directly to the acquirement by the priest- 
hood of the homogeneity and consistency proper to it, 
and without which its independence of the temporal 
power can never be at all insured. 

The principal properties of polytheism being now 
distinctly characterized, we have only to examine it 
under the moral point of view. Under whatever aspect 
we regard morality, personal, domestic, or social, we 
cannot but recognize how profoundly vitiated it must 
have been, among the ancients, by the sole fact of the 
existence of slavery. In all that concerns individual 
morality it would be superfluous to pause here to 
demonstrate the degradation to the greater part of our 
species which directly results from it, Relatively to 
domestic morality, in particular, we cannot doubt that 
slavery tended to corrupt the most important family 
relations, by the deplorable facilities it afforded to 
libertinism, so as to render almost illusory the attempt 
to establish monogamy. 



286 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

As regards social ethics, of which general love of 
human nature ought to constitute the principal cha- 
racter, it is only too easy to perceive how much the 
universal habits of cruelty, familiarly contracted to- 
wards unfortunate slaves, tended to develope the senti- 
ments of harshness and even ferocity which in so 
many respects were ordinary characteristics of ancient 
manners. 

Considering the other political conditions of ancient 
societies, we recognize upon no less certain evidence the 
fatal influence which must in general result from the 
confusion between the spiritual and the temporal power. 
It is, indeed, a consequence of such confusion that mo- 
rality with the ancients was made essentially subordinate 
to policy: whereas with the moderns, especially under 
the reign of Catholicism, morality, radically independent 
of policy, has tended more or less to direct it. So vicious 
a subjection of the general and permanent point of view — 
morality, — to the special and vacillating point of view — 
policy y — must have affected the efficacy of moral prescrip- 
tions. 

However unavoidable such an imperfection may then 
have been, it is not the less to be deplored. It is 
evident that the morality of the ancients was in 
general, like their policy, eminently military : that is 
to say, essentially subordinate to the warlike destination 
which especially characterized this age of humanity. By 
applying the general morality of the ancients according 
to their own spirit, that is, with an eye to their policy, we 
shall find it very satisfactory, from its admirable fitness 
to assist the characteristic development of their military 
activity. But it is, on the contrary, very imperfect when 
considered as a phase in the purely moral education of 
mankind. 

Such was ancient Polytheism, considered in its essen- 
tial properties, social or intellectual, and its tendency to 



AGES OF FETICHISM AND POLYTHEISM. 287 

produce the new theological phase, which in the middle 
ages, after having realized all the social efficiency of which 
such a philosophy was susceptible, rendered the ulterior 
advent of positive philosophy not only possible but indis- 
pensable ; as now remains to be shown. 



288 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



SECTION VII. 

CATHOLICISM : MIDDLE AGES. 

It was Catholicism alone, justly entitled Roman, 
that could work out in western Europe the character- 
istic properties of the monotheistic system. As the 
introduction of a spiritual power entirely distinct from 
and utterly independent of temporal power, constituted 
in the middle ages the principal attribute of such a poli- 
tical system, we must proceed to an appreciation of this 
grand social creation. 

The eminently social genius of Catholicism consisted 
in its making a way for morality to penetrate gradually 
into policy, to which it had hitherto been sub- 
ordinate, by the constitution of a purely moral power 
distinct and independent of the political power. This 
tendency constitutes the superiority of the civiliza- 
tion of modern times over that of antiquity. All true 
policy began from that time to acquire, in an intellectual 
point of view, a character of wisdom, of extension, and 
of rationality, which could never hitherto have existed. 

Morally considered, it cannot be doubted that this 
admirable modification of the social organization must 
have tended to develope, even in the lowest ranks 
of the people who were able to feel its salutary in- 
fluence, a profound sentiment of dignity and elevation 
hitherto almost unknown; by the simple fact, that a 
universal code of morality, unanimously accepted, apart 
from and above mere policy, spontaneously gave 
authority to the poorest Christian to remind the most 
powerful prince of the inflexible prescriptions of their 






CATHOLICISM I MIDDLE AGES. 289 

common doctrine, the primary basis of respect and 
obedience. 

Under a purely political aspect, it is evident that this 
social regeneration essentially realized the grand Utopia 
of the Greek philosophers, since it constituted, in the 
midst of an order founded entirely upon birth, fortune, 
or military deserts, an immense and powerful class, in 
which intellectual and moral superiority was openly 
avowed as the first title to real ascendancy. No philo- 
sopher can now-a-days refuse to recognize in principle 
the characteristic aptitude of a spiritual organization to 
an almost indefinite territorial extension, wherever there 
exists a sufficient similitude of civilization to admit of 
the regularization of habitual or continuous intercourse. 
It is irrefutable that the papal monarchy constituted in 
the middle ages the principal general tie between the 
various European nations, from the time the dominion 
of ancient Rome lost the power of concentrating them 
sufficiently. 

If we examine the ecclesiastical constitution, we can- 
not be surprised at the political ascendancy which 
a power so strongly organized, equally superior to all 
that surrounded and to all that had preceded it, acquired 
universally in the middle ages. Directly founded upon 
intellectual or moral merit, the Catholic organization 
gradually attributed to the elective principle an extecsion 
hitherto unknown ; since the choice, always restricted in 
the ancient republics to one fixed class, might now 
embrace the whole of society, not excepting the lowest 
ranks, which at that time did, in fact, furnish so many 
Cardinals and even Popes ; on the other hand, under a 
less well-understood but not less important aspect, it 
perfected the nature of this political principle by render- 
ing it more rational, inasmuch as it substituted the choice 
of superiors, by their inferiors to the inverse disposition, 
hitherto exceptional. The characteristic method of elec- 
tion to the supreme spiritual dignity must always be 

u 



290 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

regarded as a triumph of political wisdom, in which 
the general guarantees of real stability and fitting pre- 
paration were far better insured than by the empirical 
expedient of hereditary right. 

We must equally recognizethegreatpoliticalimportance, 
until the decline of the system, of those Monastic Insti- 
tutions which, setting aside their intellectual services, 
constituted certainly one of the most indispensable 
elements of this immense organization. These peculiar 
institutions, now known almost entirely by the abuses 
of their decadence, were the cradle in which the prin- 
cipal Christian conceptions, dogmatical and practical, 
were elaborated long before their promulgation. 

The chief efficacy common to all the various political 
properties of the Catholic constitution consisted espe- 
cially in this powerful education of the clergy, which 
rendered the ecclesiastical genius habitually so superior 
to all others, not only in enlightenment but also in poli- 
tical aptitude. Let us point out also another character- 
istic of deep political philosophy in the discipline by 
which Catholicism gradually restrained the right of 
supernatural inspiration — representing it as eminently 
exceptional, confining it to cases of more and more 
gravity, to the more and more elect, to times farther and 
farther removed from each other ; subjecting it, lastly, 
to verifications of authenticity more and more severe. 
Its regular and continued use was reduced to what 
the nature of the system rendered strictly indispen- 
sable, as soon as all divine communication became, in 
principle, reserved for the most part to the supreme 
ecclesiastical authority. This papal Infallibility, now 
made so bitter a reproach to Catholicism, constituted in 
truth a very great intellectual and social progress. If 
we take from the sovereign Pontiff this indispensable 
prerogative, the spirit of Protestantism, far from sup- 
pressing the right of divine inspiration, tended directly 
on the contrary greatly to augment it, and to cause 



CATHOLICISM : MIDDLE AGES. 291 

a retrogression in the gradual development of the human 
race. 

The important institution of ecclesiastical Celibacy 
has been justly regarded as one of the essential bases of 
sacerdotal discipline. Men have not sufficiently appre- 
ciated the bold and really fundamental innovation 
operated in the social organization by Catholicism, when 
it thus suppressed for ever the hereditary priesthood, 
profoundly inherent in all the economy of antiquity, 
not only under the so-called theocratic system, but also 
among the Greeks and even among the Romans, with 
whom the various pontifical offices of any importance 
constitued the exclusive patrimony of a few privileged 
families — or, at the very least, of a certain caste. This 
generalinstitutionof ecclesiastical celibacy was essentially 
destined to render a pure theocracy radically impossible, 
guaranteeing to every rank of society, in the most spe- 
cial manner, legitimate access to all spiritual dignities 
whatsoever. 

Another peculiar condition of the political existence 
of Catholicism in the middle ages, consists in the neces- 
sity of a temporal principality of sufficient extent, 
directly annexed to the head-quarters of spiritual 
authority, in order better to guarantee its entire Euro- 
pean independence. Issuing, as at this day we are 
too ready to forget, from a social state in which the 
! two elementary powers were confounded together, the 
I Catholic system would then have been rapidly ab- 
| sorbed, or rather annulled, politically, by the prepon- 
derance of the temporal power, if the seat of its central 
! authority had been shut up in any one particular juris- 
diction ; the chief personage in which would not have 
failed, following the primitive tendency towards the con- 
centration of all powers, to subject the Pope to himself 
as a sort of chaplain. But, on the other hand, the indu- 
bitable necessity of this temporal addition to the supreme 
ecclesiastical dignity, should not make us forget the grave 



292 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

and inevitable inconveniences resulting from it, whe- 
ther as regards the sacerdotal authority itself, or the 
part of Europe reserved to this sort of political ano- 
maly. 

Let us now consider the great attribute of general 
Education, which, according to our anterior explanation, 
constitutes the most important function of the spiritual 
power, and the foundation of all its other operations. 
Almost all philosophers, even the Catholics, for want of 
a sufficiently elevated comparison, have appreciated too 
lightly the immense social innovation accomplished by 
Catholicism when it directly organized a system of 
general education, intellectual as well as moral, extend- 
ing itself to every class of the European population, 
without any exception whatever. It is easy to perceive 
the eminent social value of such a permanent ameliora- 
tion, starting from the polytheistic system which con- 
demned the mass of the population to a state of brutaliz- 
ation. 

Lastly, we must look upon the truly capital institu- 
tion of Confession as a necessary complement of this 
attribute, for it is on the one hand impossible that the 
real directors of youth should not become spontaneously 
in a certain degree the counsellors of active life ; and on 
the other hand, without such prolongation of their moral 
influence, their social efficacy would not have been 
secured, in virtue of their fitness to overlook the dailv 
execution of the principles of conduct they had them- 
selves imparted. Who does not feel the powerful moral 
effects of this beautiful institution to purify by confes- 
sion and rectify by repentance ? 

To complete the comprehension of this grand organiz- 
ation, we have to point out its principal dogmatic con- 
ditions, in order to make it apparent that the secondary 
theological creeds, at present commonly regarded as 
socially indifferent, were nevertheless indispensable to 
the full political efficacy of this system. 






CATHOLICISM I MIDDLE AGES. 293 

Catholicism, to constitute and maintain the unity 
necessary to its social distinction, was forced to put a 
check at once on the free, individual, inevitably discor- 
dant, expression of the religious spirit, by erecting 
into the first duty of a Christian, the most absolute 
Faith. Without this basis, all other moral obligations 
would have immediately lost their only fulcrum. The 
famous dogma of the Fall and original Sin, constituted 
also a necessary element of the Catholic philosophy, not 
only by its relation to the theological explanation of 
human suffering, but also, in a more special manner, by 
providing a motive for the necessity of an universal 
Redemption, upon which rests the whole economy of the 
Catholic faith. 

It would be easy, in the same way, to show that the 
institution of Purgatory, so bitterly criticized, was most 
happily introduced at first into practical Catholicism as 
an indispensable corrective of the eternity of future 
punishment, whatever may since have been the abuses 
of so arbitrary an expedient. Among the special dogmas 
an analogous examination would place in full evidence 
the political necessity of the eminently divine character 
attributed to the first founder, real or ideal, of this grand 
system of religion, in consequence of the profound and 
indisputable, though hitherto ill-understood, relation of 
such a conception with the radical independence of the 
spiritual power, thus placed at once under the protection 
of an inviolable authority. 

The celebrated dogma of the real presence, which, in 
spite of its apparent strangeness, constituted in fact a 
natural prolongation of the preceding dogma, contained 
in itself the same political efficacy, attributing as it did 
to the most ordinary priest a daily power of miraculous 
consecration, tending to render him an object of venera- 
tion to those chiefs whose material power, however great, 
could never aspire to such sublime operations. The 
Catholic Mass is a happy invention of the theological 



294 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

mind ; destined to replace universally and irrevocably 
the hideous and bloody sacrifices of Polytheism, it con- 
trived by a sublime subterfuge to satisfy beyond all 
anterior possibility the instinctive demand for sacrifices 
necessarily inherent in every system of religion, by this 
voluntary daily immolation of the greatest victim 
imaginable. 

After having thus traced the character of the mono- 
theistic system, relatively to its spiritual organization, 
which constituted its principal foundation, it is easy to 
proceed to the philosophical examination of its corre- 
sponding temporal organization. When we compare the 
Feudal with the Roman system of government, we shall 
easily recognize that in spite of the general prolongation 
of the military system, it had undergone in the middle 
ages an important transformation resulting from the new 
situation of the civilized world. Military activity, 
although strongly developed, had begun to divest itself 
more and more of the eminently offensive character it 
had hitherto assumed, and to reduce itself gradually to 
a purely defensive character. 

When once the Roman system of conquest had 
acquired all the plenitude of which it was susceptible, 
by a natural transition military efforts were turned 
habitually to conservation, now their only great object, 
and daily more and more menaced by the growing 
energy of the unconquered nations. Each military chief 
holding himself constantly in readiness for the defence of 
his territory, tended spontaneously to the erection of an 
almost independent power over that portion of country 
which he was capable of protecting sufficiently himself, 
with the assistance of those warriors who had attached 
themselves to his fortunes. 

The influence of Catholicism is not less discernible in 
the universal transformation of slavery into serfdom, 
which constitutes the last essential attribute of the feudal 
organization. The Catholic system interposed directly 



CATHOLICISM : MIDDLE AGES. 295 

between the master and slave, or the lord and serf, a 
salutary spiritual authority respected equally by both, 
and continually recalled them to their respective dut'es. 

Lastly, we must here consider the grand institution of 
Chivalry, as in its nature reflecting the three charac- 
teristics of the temporal organization of the middle ages. 
In these noble associations, the salutary influence, osten- 
sible or secret, of Catholicism, reveals itself, tending as 
it did to convert a simple means of military education 
into a powerful instrument of social progress. 

Having thus worked out the important and difficult 
political appreciation, both spiritual and temporal, of the 
monotheistic system of the middle ages, it remains for 
us now to complete the analysis, by an examination of 
its moral influence and intellectual efficacy. We wdll 
confine ourselves to a rapid indication of the more im- 
portant progress made in the three successive portions 
which make up the whole of Morality — firstly, personal, 
secondly, domestic, and lastly, social — following the order 
already established. 

Catholicism, appropriating the unanimous opinion of 
antecedent philosophers, rightly regarded individual 
virtues as the basis of all others, inasmuch as they afford 
the most natural and most decisive exercise of that 
ascendancy of reason over passion, on which all moral 
perfection depends. The simply personal virtues began 
from that time to be directly regarded in all their social 
importance, whereas the ancients recommended them as 
measures of prudence, purely relative to the individual 
considered separately. 

The moral fitness of Catholicism is peculiarly mani- 
fested in its happy organization of domestic morality, 
now for the first time placed in its proper rank, instead 
of being absorbed by policy, as in all antiquity. Catho- 
licism, while it consecrated in the most solemn manner 
the authority of parents, abolished totally the almost 



296 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

absolute despotism which it possessed among the an- 
cients, and which not unfrequently manifested itself in 
the murder or desertion of infants at their birth. No one 
now disputes that it ameliorated the social position of 
women. By concentrating them more completely in 
domestic life, it guaranteed to them a just degree of 
liberty, and consolidated their situation by rendering 
marriage an indissoluble contract. 

Taking into consideration mere social morality, 
properly so called, it is almost superfluous to demonstrate 
the excellent influence of Catholicism in modifying the 
energetic but savage patriotism which alone animated 
the ancients, by the more elevated sentiment of univer- 
sal humanity or brotherhood, so happily familiarized 
under the gentle name of Charity. This was the fruit- 
ful source of so many admirable asylums destined to the 
relief of human wretchedness, which metaphysical 
policy has had the boldness to condemn in the name of 
the pretended science of political economy, whereas it 
remains for us at this day, by reorganizing, to extend 
and complete them. 

Such is a summary representation of the immense 
moral regeneration established by Catholicism in the 
middle ages. We have now to judge of its intellectual 
attributes. Under a strictly philosophical point of view, 
the intellectual aptitude of Catholicism is as eminent as 
it is ill appreciated. We have already considered the 
extreme social importance of the system of universal edu- 
cation which it contrived to organize throughout all 
classes, even the lowest, of the European populations. 
Now, however imperfect may appear to us the purely 
theological philosophy thus spread abroad, it cer- 
tainly exercised for a long time a most happy influ- 
ence over the intellectual development of the mass of 
civilized nations, from that time regularly subjected to 
a spiritual exercise thoroughly adapted to their situation, 



CATHOLICISM : MIDDLE AGES. 297 

and as much calculated to elevate their ideas above the 
narrow circle of material life, as to purify their habitual 
sentiments. 

The purely scientific influence of Catholicism was cer- 
tainly not less salutary than its philosophical action. It 
is easy to imagine the influence which the monotheistic 
rule must exercise over the movement of the principal 
natural sciences : by the creation of chemistry, founded 
upon the preliminary conception of Aristotle relative to 
the four elements : by the notable progress made in ana- 
tomy, so fettered in ancient times ; and by the continual 
development of preceding mathematical speculations and 
the astronomical notions connected therewith ; a deve- 
lopment as decided as the then state of science admitted. 
As to the aesthetic influence of the monotheistic system 
of the midle ages, although, in common with those above 
alluded to, it did not unfold itself until the period 
immediately following, we cannot deny its decided bias 
when we think of the immense progress of music and 
architecture during this memorable epoch. 

If we regard the movement communicated by 
this social system under the least elevated and most 
universal aspect, that is, as respects the industrial Im- 
pulse, we cannot doubt but that the greatest improve- 
ment realizable in human industry must consist in a 
| gradual and discreet abolition of serfdom, accompanied 
i by the progressive enfranchisement of the common 
people, at that time accomplished under the guardianship 
of such a system, and which constituted the neces- 
sary basis of its immense subsequent success. We 
should remark a progressive tendency towards the 
economy of human labour replaced by exterior forces 
scarcely at all used by the ancients. This important 
substitution, the principal source of the great develop- 
ment of modern Industry, may be traced certainly to 
'his date. The personal emancipation of the immediate 
abourers had an evident tendency to impose an impe- 



298 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 






rious general obligation to spare human forces by uti- 
lizing in a greater degree the various physical forces. 

After this analysis of the monotheistic system, it 
remains for us to demonstrate, lastly, the principle of 
decadence inherent in this transitory system, whose 
necessary destination in the evolution of humanity was 
to prepare under its beneficent tutelage the gradual 
decomposition of the theological and military condition, 
and the advance of new elements of definitive Order. 

The general cause of the inevitable mental dissolution 
of Catholicism consists in its never having been able to 
corporate itself with intellectual advancement; it was 
thus necessarily, after a time, outstripped; from that 
time it was impossible for it to maintain its empire except 
by abrogating the progressive character proper to every 
system in its rise, in order to take more and more 
the stationary and even retrograde character which so 
deplorably distinguishes it at present. 

The universal morality of which Catholicism was 
primarily the indispensable organ, can certainly no 
longer constitute its peculiar property, when it has 
lost its aptitude to impose it upon social economy in 
general. 

In a secular point of view the transitory nature 
of the feudal system manifests itself in the most un- 
equivocal manner. As to its principal aim, the de- 
fensive organization of modern societies, it could retain 
no importance after invasions were put an end to, by the 
final transition from a barbarian state to an agricultural 
and sedentary life, on their own domains, sanctioned and 
consolidated by their gradual conversion to Catholicism, 
which incorporated them more and more completely in 
the universal system. 

This transitory character is still more apparent in 
the decomposition of the temporal power into partial 
sovereignties, which we have admitted as one of the 
characteristics of the feudal system, and which could 



CATHOLICISM : MIDDLE AGES. 299 

not fail to be early replaced by a new centralization, 
towards which everything would naturally tend. The 
same holds good in its last characteristic feature — 
the transformation of slavery into serfdom — since slavery 
constitutes a state susceptible of any amount of duration 
under suitable conditions; whereas serfdom, strictly 
speaking, could only be in the system of modern civi- 
lization a transient condition, promptly modified by 
the almost simultaneous establishment of industrial 
communities, whose sole social destination was the 
gradual preparation of the labourer for entire personal 
emancipation, 



800 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 



SECTION VIII. 

THE TRANSITION AGE. 

Starting from the point at which our historical elabora- 
tion has now arrived, the study of this Transition Age 
will constitute the object of the rest of our analysis. 
This will be divided into two series — one essentially 
critical or negative, intended to characterize the gradual 
demolition of the theological and military system under 
the growing ascendancy of the metaphysical spirit ; the 
other, directly organic, relating to the progressive evolu- 
tion of the various principal elements of the positive 
system. 

Let us first estimate the increasing disorganization of 
the theological and military system during the course of 
the five last centuries. The imminent spontaneous dis- 
organization of Catholicism was indicated, from the 
beginning of. the fourteenth century, by grave precursory 
symptoms, i. e., the general relation of the sacer- 
dotal spirit, and the increasing intensity of heretical 
tendencies. The violent means then introduced on a 
grand scale for the extirpation of heresies constituted 
one of the most unequivocal signs of this insurmountable 
fatality. In temporal matters, it was then that the de- 
crease of the feudal constitution gradually became 
inevitable, its principal military destination being ful- 
filled. 

In order to analyze in a truly scientific manner this 
immense revolutionary work of five centuries, it must be 
carefully divided into two successive portions : the one, 
comprising the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in 



THE TRANSITION AGE. 301 

which the critical movement remains spontaneous and 
involuntary, without the regular and express partici- 
pation of any systematic doctrine ; the other, em- 
bracing the three following centuries, during which 
the disorganization becoming more profound and divided, 
completed itself under the influence of a professedly 
negative philosophy, gradually extending itself to all 
social questions of any importance, so as to indicate 
the tendency of modern society to an entire renovation 

Nothing can be a stronger confirmation of the 
transitory nature of the Catholic and feudal consti- 
tution of the Middle Ages, than the ruin of such an 
organization by the mere conflict of its principal ele- 
ments, without any systematic attack, during the two 
centuries immediately following the time of its greatest 
splendour. It is unquestionable that the establishment 
of a Spiritual power distinct from and independent of 
the Temporal power, indispensable as it was to the 
accomplishment of the special evolution reserved for the 
Middle Ages, must in the sequel have become an active 
principle of decomposition by the incompatibility be- 
tween the two authorities, from the unfitness of the only 
philosophy which could then preside over both. Under 
the true monotheistic rule, in which the separation be- 
tween the moral and political government became a 
principal attribute, there exists an inevitable contradic- 
tion between such a disposition and the military nature 
of the corresponding temporal system, considering the 
tendency to unity of power characteristic of the martial 
spirit. 

As to the spiritual polity, we cannot but see that 
the Catholic hierarchy, in spite of the superiority of 
its energetic co-ordination, contains in its very nature 
the seeds of an inevitable dissolution, as regards the 
general relations between the supreme sacerdotal 
authority and the various national churches. In the 
country which, according to the just and unanimous 



302 COMTE^S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 

estimate of the principal Catholic philosophers, was 
during the whole Middle Ages a principal support of 
the ecclesiastical system, the national clergy arro- 
gated to themselves special privileges, in respect to 
the supreme spiritual authority, which the Popes have 
often proclaimed to be contradictory to the political 
existence of Catholicism: and this opposition could 
certainly not have been less real, though perhaps less 
distinctly expressed, among the populations more re- 
moved from the centre of pontifical power. 

Papacy, on the other hand, tended in an inverse 
direction, but with the same efficiency, to the disso- 
lution of this subordination, by its disposition to an 
exorbitant centralization, which, being for the exclusive 
advantage of Italian ambition, justly raised in all other 
places the most energetic and obstinate national resist- 
ance. Such is the twofold and continuous impulse 
which even prior to any doctrinal schism tended to 
dissolve the interior unity of Catholicism by decompos- 
ing it, contrary to the spirit of its foundation, into inde- 
pendent national churches. 

As to the temporal organization, the fundamental 
antagonism between monarchial central power, and the 
local powers of various classes of the feudal hierarchy, 
has been sufficiently indicated by various writers, and 
especially by Montesquieu, so as to make any new ex- 
amination of it here unnecessary. Comte regards this 
decomposition as a truly distinctive character of the 
feudal and Catholic system, since it was, he thinks, more 
profoundly marked in it than in any other antecedent 
system. 

Such is the purely provisional destination of theo- 
logical philosophy that in proportion as it perfects itself 
morally and intellectually, it becomes less consistent 
and less durable ; as is clearly proved by a comparative 
examination of its principal historical phases : for the 
primitive Fetichism was really more firmly rooted and 









THE TRANSITION AGE. 303 

more stable than Polytheism, which in its turn decidedly 
surpassed Catholicism both in intrinsic vigour and in 
actual duration ; a paradox which our theory neverthe- 
less resolves readily by representing the progress of 
theological conceptions as necessarily consisting in a con- 
tinual decrease of intensity. 

The critical or revolutionary doctrine evidently con- 
tributed much to accelerate and propagate the natural 
disorganization of the Middle Ages, and, in consequence, 
of the whole military and theological system of which it 
constituted the last phase. The development of this 
doctrine divides itself into two successive phases, sepa- 
rating this memorable historical period of the three last 
centuries into two nearly equal portions. 

In the first phase, comprising Protestantism in its 
various principal forms, the u right of private judgment," 
although clearly enunciated, is nevertheless always con- 
fined within the limits of Christian theology \ hence this 
anarchial spirit of discussion, ostensibly applied only to 
theological dogmas, was really applied, in the name of 
Christianity itself, to ruin the admirable system of 
Catholic hierarchy which constituted socially its only 
| realization. It is in this that the illogical character 
I inherent in the negative philosophy announces itself 
most distinctly, by its constant pretension to reform 
Christianity with means radically destructive of the con- 
ditions indispensable to its political existence. 

The second phase comprises the various attempts of 
Deism, vulgarly known as the philosophy of the 18th 
century : the right of private judgment is there in prin- 
ciple recognized as indefinite ; but the endeavours to 
restrain metaphysical discussion within the bounds of 
Monotheism was idle. The intellectual bases of Mono- 
theism appeared immovable, but they were shaken by a 
prolongation of the same critical elaboration. The 
social incompetence of this doctrine becomes felt in the 
tendency to found political regeneration upon a series of 



304 



COMTE'S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES, 



simple negations which could end in nothing but uni- 
versal anarchy. 

Such are the various considerations on the necessary 
march and concatenation of the different phases of the 
great movement of radical decomposition, first spon- 
taneous and afterwards systematic, which characterizes 
the political evolution of modern society during the 
five last centuries, tending to the entire dissolution of 
the Catholic and feudal constitution, the last phase of 
theological and military development. 



RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ORDER. 305 



SECTION IX. 

RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ORDER. 

The monotheistic system peculiar to the Middle Ages 
is represented by Comte as invested with a twofold 
destination, — temporary indeed, but indispensable to 
the evolution of Humanity; he has given a notion 
of the general development of its political conse- 
quences destined to effect the gradual disorganiza- 
tion of the military and theological system. We have 
now to pursue, with regard to this same preliminary 
period, which has hitherto appeared purely revolutionary, 
the analysis of its social elements, forming as they do the 
basis of an organization conformable with modern civiliz- 
ation. It is only after this second appreciation that 
we can adequately terminate the historical survey. 

The opening of the fourteenth century represents the 
true epoch at which the organic working of existing 
societies began to be sufficiently characteristic in the 
quadruple series — Industrial, ^Esthetic, Scientific, and 
Philosophical. 

Let us proceed to the examination of each of these 
four evolutions, beginning with the Industrial, as the 
principal basis of the great movement of recomposition 
which has hitherto characterized modern society. This 
transformation, the most fundamental which mankind 
has yet undergone, has been everywhere realized by the 
substitution of serfdom for slavery. The cultivator, 
chus fixed to the ground he tilled, began immediatelv, 
however miserable and precarious may have been his 
sxistence, to acquire real social rights, at any rate the 

x 



306 COMTE ; S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES, 

most elementary of all, —that of creating for himself a 
family. Such an amelioration is the necessary basis of 
all the ulterior phases of civil emancipation. 

From the very beginning of serfdom it is clear that 
Catholicism not only established everywhere a perma- 
nent sanction for the rights of the serfs, and imposed 
upon them corresponding obligations, by admitting 
them to a participation in the same religion as their 
superiors, and consequently in the common degree of 
education, moral at least, which necessarily resulted 
therefrom ; but also that it also proclaimed, in a more 
or less explicit manner, voluntary enfranchisement to 
be the duty of a Christian, as soon as the population 
should at once manifest its tendency to, and fitness for, 
liberty. 

The scattered agricultural populations, and the nature 
of their daily labour, tended evidently to retard both the 
tendency and fitness for entire personal emancipation, 
and the power of acquiring it. It was principally by 
the great reaction emanating continually from towns 
when the establishment of communes admitted industrial 
development, that during the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries the cultivators of land found themselves 
gradually acquiring freedom in all important parts of 
Western Europe. 

The feudal organization, by its eminently dispersive 
nature, would lend itself readily to the admission of the 
industrial communities among the numerous elements 
of which its hierarchy was composed, without dreading 
any dangerous social or political rivalry from these 
nascent forces, in which, on the contrary, the two prin- 
cipal temporal powers sought useful auxiliaries in their 
quarrels. 

Considering successively the different elementary 
aspects of social life, it becomes evident that tiiis great 
transformation constitutes the most important temporal 
evolution that human nature could experience, since it 



RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ORDER. 807 

tended to change the mode of existence, hitherto emi- 
nently warlike, and henceforward becoming more and 
more peaceful, among an increasing majority of civilized 
nations. Twelve centimes previous, if this universal 
abolition of slavery, and this common voluntary subjec- 
tion of free men to what was then called servile labour, 
had been announced to the Greek philosophers, the 
boldest and most enlightened among them would have 
unhesitatingly proclaimed the absurdity of an Utopia 
for which nothing at that time could indicate any foun- 
dation : not having yet had the opportunity of recogniz- 
ing the fact that, in the natural course of social develop- 
ment, gradual and spontaneous changes end by out- 
stripping completely the most audacious speculations of 
primitive times. 

As to the influence exercised by this great transfor- 
mation upon domestic relations, it was immense, inas- 
much as all the sweet emotions of family life were 
thus accessible to the most numerous class, in com- 
mon with their masters. It is here, then, that we 
find the beginning of that manifestation of the final 
destination of almost all civilized men to a principally 
domestic life, which on the contrary among the ancients 
was interdicted to slaves, and little enjoyed even by the 
free classes, habitually more attracted by the turbulent 
emotions of public life. 

Considered abstractedly, with reference to its purely 
social properties, it is evident that this industrial evolu- 
tion tended necessarily to complete among the moderns 
the irrevocable abolition of castes, by pitting against 
the ancient ascendancy of Birth the progressive rivalry 
of wealth acquired by Labour. The Catholic organiza- 
tion had worthily commenced this change in the Middle 
Ages, if only by the abolition of an hereditary priesthood 
and the foundation of a spiritual hierarchy on the prin- 
ciple of Capacity. The industrial movement followed 
in its steps, to realize after its own manner, in the most 



308 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

insignificant social functions, a transformation equivalent 
to the one thus already effected in the most eminent. 

Lastly, if we consider the effect of the industrial evo- 
lution in modifying the most extensive social relations, 
it is assuredly unnecessary to insist here upon its ten- 
dency, already so marked in the Middle Ages, to connect 
different populations in spite of the various causes, reli- 
gious and others, of national antipathies. 

To complete this historical estimate of the principal 
motive-power of modern society, we have now only to 
characterize its universal development during the memo- 
rable period of the five centuries following its origin. 
This great preparatory epoch is divided into three con- 
secutive phases, according with the more or less advanced 
state of political decomposition : the end of the fifteenth 
century serving to separate the time in which the spiritual 
and temporal dissolution was chiefly spontaneous from 
that in which it gradually became systematic ; and for 
the last age, the middle of the 17th century dividing the 
reign of the negative philosophy into the epoch of pre- 
liminary protestant criticism, and that of deistical criti- 
cism. Thus we have three pretty nearly equal periods^ 
comprising, the first about six generations, the second 
five, and the last four ; at least if we consider this to 
end at the beginning of the French Revolution. It was 
principally during these two latter centuries that In- 
dustry really began to establish its irrevocable ascend- 
ancy, so as to manifest distinctly the true practical 
character of modern civilization. 

Among the numerous institutions which at this epoch 
bear witness to the rising preponderance of the industrial 
over the military life, we will confine ourselves to the 
special mention of one, which certainly was the most 
decisive of all — the establishment of standing armies, 
temporary at the commencement of this phase, but 
everywhere permanent towards its end. It is an un- 
equivocal manifestation of the increasing antipathy felt 



RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ORDER. S09 

by the new populations towards military habits, hence- 
forward concentrated in a special minority, the propor- 
tion of which has not ceased to decrease in spite of the 
numerical aggrandizement of modern armies. 

We find also in this important phase the spirit 
of modern civilization deeply impressed, even to the 
technological character of the great inventions which 
then influenced the destinies of mankind. Modern pro- 
gress is essentially distinguished from ancient by the 
increasing tendency to substitute various exterior 
agencies to the physical action of man. This important 
difference results from the personal emancipation which 
has rendered the human agent so precious in modern 
times, whereas ancient slavery, allowing of the muscular 
activity of man being prodigally used, prevented any 
large application of natural powers. 

The latter centuries of the Middle Ages had already 
been illustrated in this respect by three capital inven- 
tions, the origin of which has been hitherto irrationally 
attributed to purely accidental causes ; while on the 
contrary it appears to us that no industrial development 
was ever better prepared by contemporaneous influences. 
We allude to the Compass, the invention of Fire-arms, 
and lastly that of Printing. 

The origin of the Compass is to be looked for in 
the new situation of society, which pressed on with 
continuous energy to the extension and amelioration of 
European navigation. The influence of the same situa- 
tion impelled men also in an equally powerful and direct 
manner to the perfecting of warlike processes, in order 
that the peaceable industrial populace might at last 
make a real stand against the attempts at oppression by 
the military caste. The invention of Printing was even 
more a necessary result of the altered position of modern 
society ; the immense extension of a powerful European 
clergy naturally gave an impulse to reading ; the rise of 
Scholasticism after the ascension of political Catholicism ; 



310 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

the immense concourse of eager hearers flowing by 
thousands into the principal universities of Europe ; 
lastly, the entire abolition of serfdom, and simultaneous 
development of industrial authority, must have excited 
a strong desire to render the copying of manuscripts 
more economical and more rapid. 

Such, then, is the historical explanation of the three 
important inventions which best characterize the first 
age of real industrial development. We can only here 
hint at the chain of causes which were to make the two 
immortal expeditions of Columbus and Vasco de Gama a 
spontaneous result of the entire movement belonging to 
this epoch. 

In the second general phase of modern evolution, 
that is to say during the development of Protestantism, 
from the commencement of the sixteenth century till 
towards the middle of the seventeenth, we may perceive, 
under various but equivalent forms, a new and increasing 
tendency to the regularization of the industrial move- 
ment. In the sixteenth century, and even the seven- 
teenth, war had not yet ceased to be regarded as the 
principal object of governments ; but they had defini- 
tively recognized the necessity of favouring the industrial 
development as an indispensable basis of military power, 
which was assuredly the only progress realizable in the 
opinions of the statesmen of those days. 

The tendency to the political systematization of 
industry must have exacted at first the sacrifice of the 
ancient independence of industrial cities, which, neces- 
sary to their rise, became in later days a dangerous 
obstacle to the formation of those great national unities 
so important to ulterior progress. Accordingly, this 
preliminary absorption, destined to incorporate every 
industrial centre in a more general organization, took 
place almost without opposition at the beginning of this 
epoch. 

At the end of our second phase the temporal dictator- 



RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ORDER. 311 

ship had shown its true character, in France, by the 
system which has so justly immortalized the admirable 
administration of the great Colbert, tending with such 
splendid efficacy to develope at once the three essential 
elements of modern civilization by a judicious mixture 
of direction and encouragement. 

Let us now consider the third phase of modern 
society, from the expulsion of the Calvinists to the 
beginning of the French Revolution. Here begins the 
last military series, that of commercial wars, in which, 
by a tendency at first spontaneous and afterwards 
systematic, the martial spirit, in order to preserve any 
active permanent destination, was forced to make itself 
more and more subordinate to the spirit of commerce, 
formerly so subaltern, and endeavoured to incorporate 
itself intimately with the new social economy by mani- 
festing its peculiar aptitude either to conquer for each 
people useful places of establishment, or to destroy for 
their profit any dangerous foreign competition. In- 
dustrial activity was thus proclaimed as at once the 
principle and the object of modern civilization, in the 
temporal polity. 

By a necessary consequence of its progress, modern 
Industry begins at this time to display directly its great 
philosophical character ; it tends henceforward to pre- 
sent itself more and more as immediately destined to 
realize the systematic action of man upon the exterior 
world by a competent knowledge of the laws of nature. 
Two important inventions, viz., that of the Steam-engine 
at the beginning of this third epoch, and that of the 
Air-balloon towards its end, must be noticed as having 
especially concurred in the universal propagation of such 
a conception ; the one by its potent actual results, the 
other by the bold but legitimate hopes it was calculated 
everywhere to awaken. 

The industrial movement became at last the per- 



312 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

manent object of European policy, which everywhere 
placed the military at its service. Its social rise 
becoming more and more preponderant, was thus 
unable to advance otherwise than by the final accession 
of a corresponding political system. 



^ESTHETIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC EVOLUTION. 313 



SECTION X. 

.ESTHETIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC EVOLUTION. 

It remains now to estimate the triple intellectual move- 
ment, ^Esthetic, Scientific, and Philosophical, which 
simultaneously prepared a spiritual reorganization 
capable of furnishing a rational basis for the temporal 
reorganization, the preparation for which we have just 
been examining. 

The ^Esthetic evolution manifested itself in the middle 
ages as soon as society could allow of its doing so ; that 
is to say, as soon as the Catholic and feudal organiza- 
tion had sufficiently developed its proper constitution. 
The universal adoption of Chivalry naturally marks 
the initial epoch, by the new excitement which resulted 
therefrom ; but it is to the Crusades that we must trace 
its principal development, directly nourished during two 
centuries by this noble collective impulse of European 
energy. 

The ^Esthetic development was for a long time retarded 
by a slow and difficult preliminary operation, the indis- 
pensable accomplishment of which necessarily preceded 
any direct flight of poetical genius. We allude to the 
elaboration of modern languages, in which we may see 
a primary universal intervention of the aesthetic faculty. 
Essentially destined to the universal and energetic 
representation of thoughts and feelings inherent in real 
and ordinary life, the aesthetic genius could never pro- 
perly express itself in a dead or even in a foreign lan« 



314 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

guage, whatever exceptional facility it might have 
acquired by artificial habits. 

We can readily comprehend how this special acti- 
vity must have been employed during so long a time 
in the Middle Ages in accelerating and regulating the 
spontaneous formation of the modern languages. This 
spontaneity is not less marked in the originality of its pro- 
ductions^ and in their artless conformity with the corres- 
ponding social situation, than in the independence of its 
ethics and freedom from servile imitation. We may 
particularly remark at this period the rough draught of 
a species of composition essentially unknown to the 
ancients, because it has a special reference to private 
life, so little developed among them. This sort of 
domestic epic, destined in later times to make such ex- 
traordinary progress, and which constitutes certainly the 
kind of production best suited to the true nature of 
modern civilization, took its rise evidently in this initial 
evolution. 

The intimate mutual affinity shown by modern his- 
tory to have existed between ^Esthetic and Industrial 
progress, has its principle in the twofold tendency of 
the industrial evolution to develope spontaneously, even 
in the lowest classes, habits of mental activity, without 
which the action of the fine arts cannot be understood, and 
at the same time to afford the ease and security which 
alone can dispose to the enjoyment of such pleasures. As 
long as slavery and war were the characteristics of social 
economy, the fine arts could never acquire any great 
popularity, nor indeed be generally relished even among 
free men, except by those of the higher classes. 

It is clear, on the contrary, that the industrial 
evolution peculiar to the end of the Middle Ages 
consolidated the salutary influence of the Catholic 
and feudal manners, by its tendency to pervade all 
classes, even the most humble, with the elementary dis- 



^ESTHETIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC EVOLUTION. 815 

positions most favourable to the action of the fine arts, 
whose productions would henceforward address them- 
selves to a public at once more numerous and better 
prepared for their reception. 

Could the Catholic and feudal system have con- 
tinued, there is no doubt that the ^Esthetic spirit of the 
12th and 13th centuries would have acquired by its 
homogeneity an importance and a depth very supe- 
rior to any that could have existed since, especially 
with regard to its popular efficiency, the true criterion 
of art. During the rapid and often violent transitions 
which were to be accomplished in the course of the great 
revolutionary period, and to which the industrial pro- 
gression so greatly contributed, the aesthetic genius 
was deprived of any general direction or social des- 
tination. 

The march of the iEsthetic as well as of the In- 
dustrial element was by turns spontaneous during this 
first-mentioned phase ; stimulated during the second 
as a means of influence by systematic encouragement; 
and lastly erected, under the third, into a partial object 
of modern policy . Although fatal to the proper develop- 
ment of Art, this last phase was nevertheless necessary 
to finish, in the social point of view, the preparatory 
evolution of the new element thus directly incorporated, 
for the future, in the great political movement of modern 
society, with which it could not have been otherwise 
associated. 

The equivocal class of " men of letters," produced by 
this transformation, and unhappily from that time in- 
vested with the supreme mental direction of social 
changes, tends spontaneously to postpone the final re- 
generation of society by its natural inclination to pro- 
long the reign of the critical spirit, which can alone 
maintain the social preponderance of the class. The 
^Esthetic evolution has then arrived gradually at a 
point at which it can receive no new developments, 



316 comte's philosophy op the sciences. 

but by the universal reorganization, as we have 
already recognized to be the case with the industrial 
evolution, the principal basis of our actual social 
state. 

We must now proceed to an equivalent demonstration 
of the strictly Scientific, and afterwards to the purely 
Philosophical evolution, in as far as they can be dis- 
tinguished provisionally, one from the other. In this 
transient separation of the two progressions which by 
their common nature must certainly be at last irrevocably 
merged in one, we must first examine the scientific move- 
ment, without which the philosophical movement would 
be unintelligible. 

We have already seen how favourable the passage 
from Polytheism to Monotheism must have been both 
to the development of the scientific spirit, and to its 
habitual influence over the common system of human 
opinions. Such was the transitory nature of the 
monotheistic philosophy, the extreme phase of theo- 
logical philosophy, that far from interdicting, like 
Polytheism, the special study of Nature, it began by 
patronizing the universal contemplation of its marvels 
in order to the more perfect appreciation of providential 
optimism. 

Accordingly, in the second phase of the Middle Ages, 
as soon as the new social state began to acquire some 
consistency, the memorable efforts of Charlemagne and 
afterwards of Alfred to revivify and diffuse the culture 
of the sciences bear witness to the constant solicitude 
of the Popes for the preservation of the knowledge 
already existing, accompanied with some secondary 
ameliorations. 

At the same time we must admit, that, owing to 
the deep political pre-occupations, both spiritual and 
temporal, belonging to the second period of the middle 
ages, the principal advances in science could not be 
directed by Catnolic monotheism, at that time absorbed 



ESTHETIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC EVOLUTION. 317 

by far more important cares, but by the Arabian mono- 
theism, which was eminently fitted for the work during 
these three centuries, under whose ascendancy so many 
useful ameliorations in ancient mathematical and 
astronomical science were introduced. 

The universal accession of Scholasticism established 
very soon the decisive ascendancy of the metaphysical 
over the strictly theological spirit. The sanctity attached 
from that time to the authority of Aristotle is a sign of 
this memorable transformation. 

The harmony of this new intellectual development 
with the general situation of active minds is characterized 
in the most decisive manner by the continued avidity 
with which thousands of hearers flocked to the teachers 
in the great European Universities during the last phase 
of the middle ages. 

Let us now make a rapid examination of this im- 
portant progress during the three successive phases 
which we have marked out. Under the first of these 
the march of science is, like that of art and that of in- 
dustry, essentially spontaneous, without any important 
interference of the special encouragement afterwards 
organized. In scientific as in aesthetic progress the 
second phase constitutes certainly the most decisive 
period of its modern evolution, especially on account of 
the movements which, from Copernicus to Newton, laid 
the definitive foundations of the true system of astro- 
nomical science, now become the fundamental type of 
Natural Philosophy. 

During the third phase the scientific element receives 
an important increase of social power, exactly analogous 
to that which we have pointed out with regard to the 
aesthetic element, and perhaps even yet more strongly 
characterized on account of its more evidently progres- 
sive nature. The increasing relations of natural and 
organic philosophy both with military affairs and with 
the industrial movement, as the principal objects of 



318 COMTE S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 

European policy, determine at this epoch a great exten- 
sion in the social influence of the sciences. 

We will now consider the philosophical evolution, as 
distinguished provisionally from the purely scientific. 
Scholasticism had realized to its utmost the social 
triumph of the metaphysical spirit, the profound 
impotence of which was unrecognized during several 
ages, from its incorporation with the Catholic consti- 
tution. By accepting thus the dangerous appeal to 
Reason, the monotheistic faith departed in an irrevo- 
cable manner from its original nature. This strange 
combination, by which an attempt was made to con- 
ciliate the theological with the positive spirit, bears the 
characteristic impress of the metaphysical spirit which 
had conceived it, and which had evidently reserved for 
itself the best share, by making Nature an object of 
daily contemplation and even adoration, leaving only 
a sterile veneration for the majestic inertness of 
the supreme Divinity, solemnly reduced to a vague 
initial intervention ! This scholastic compromise con- 
stituted, in fact, a profoundly contradictory situation, the 
stability of which was impossible. 

Under the second phase the metaphysical philo- 
sophy was in possession of the spiritual authority it 
had always coveted, even among the nations which had 
nominally remained Catholic ; and at the same time the 
scientific spirit began to display itself in its true cha- 
racter by the gradual convergence of its spontaneous 
elaboration towards decisive discoveries; a character 
entirely incompatible with the ancient philosophy, meta- 
physical as well as theological. 

Germany had already, in the preceding century, 
reached this decisive crisis, both by the movement of 
religious reformation, and still more by the grand astro- 
nomical discoveries of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and 
lastly of the great Kepler. But absorbed in religious 
contests it could give no active concurrence. England, 



.ESTHETIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC EVOLUTION. 319 

Italy, and France, on the contrary, furnished each an 
eminent co-operator in this noble elaboration : three 
philosophers, whose genius though very different was 
equally indispensable, — Bacon, Galileo, and Descartes, 
who will be acknowledged by all posterity as the first 
founders of the Positive Philosophy. 

The third phase could be nothing but a simple exten- 
sion of the one preceding. The only conception which 
we can regard as really belonging to it consists in the 
grand idea of human progress, which even under the 
ascendancy of the negative elaboration prepared the 
principle of mental reorganization. The illustrious 
economist, Turgot, was led to his celebrated theory of 
indefinite perfectibility, which in spite of its metaphysical 
character served afterwards as the basis of the grand 
historical project conceived by Condorcet, under the in- 
spiration of the revolutionary crisis. 

It is impossible not to remark that the entire evolution 
of modern philosophy constitutes merely a preliminary 
elaboration, the essence of which resides in a plan for 
human regeneration. Hence in this work I have made 
a distinct separation between the Prehminary Sciences, 
and the one Final Science which is to form the basis of 
social reorganization. 

Such is the general result of our historical survey : 
in the great European republic, the impulse of new 
social elements constituted an universal movement 
of partial recomposition, destined to concur with the 
simultaneous movement of political decomposition, in 
order to evolve from their inevitable combination the 
final regeneration of mankind. 

These two simultaneous movements of political 
decomposition and social reorganization, whose con- 
vergence gave its characteristic to modern society 
from the 14th century, could not, in spite of their 
intimate connection, be accomplished with the same 
rapidity ; so that towards the end of our third phase the 



320 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

negative progression was already sufficiently advanced 
to prove distinctly the imminent need of a final reorgani- 
zation, whilst the imperfection of the positive progres- 
sion hindered the true nature of such a regeneration 
from being adequately conceived. This unavoidable 
disparity is the real cause of the vicious direction 
pursued by the revolutionary crisis in which this two- 
fold universal movement was to end. 

But if it had not been for this salutary explosion of 
the French Revolution, unveiling at last to all eyes the 
chronic decomposition of which it was the result, the 
powerless caducity of the ancient system would have 
remained profoundly hidden, so as radically to fetter 
the political march of the select few, by concealing all 
ideas of any real reorganization, which would have ap- 
peared superfluous to the vulgar : so disposed is our 
feeble intelligence to content itself with the slightest 
organic outward appearances, to exempt itself from the 
troublesome efforts necessary to the conception of a new 
order of things. This decisive crisis was indispensable 
to indicate to all the advanced nations the advent of 
the final regeneration gradually prepared by the great 
movement of the five preceding centuries. 

This great outbreak, clearly presaged by the general 
state of things, had been specially announced about the 
end of the third phase by three events of different natures 
and unequal importance, but all, in this respect, equally 
significant. The first and most decisive was assuredly 
the abolition of the Jesuits. Nothing could more 
strongly mark the irrevocable caducity of the an- 
cient social system than this blind destruction of the 
only power capable to a certain extent of retarding its 
imminent decline. The second precursory symptom 
resulted, shortly after the first, from the great attempt 
at reform vainly made under the celebrated administrn- 
tion of Turgot, the inevitable failure of which brought 



^ESTHETIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC EVOLUTION. 321 

into view the absolute necessity of more extensive and 
radical innovations, especially that of an energetic 
popular protest against the abuses inherent in a retro- 
grade policy. Lastly, the famous American Revolution 
furnished an occasion for the spontaneous expression 
of the universal disposition of the French for a decisive 
change. 



322 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 



SECTION XI. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

In order to appreciate what was accomplished by the 
French Revolution, we must consider it under two 
aspects, — the one simply preparatory, the other entirely 
characteristic, under the respective conduct of the two 
great National Assemblies. 

In the preparatory period, the need of regeneration, 
as yet only vaguely felt, appears reconcileable with a 
certain indefinite conservation of the old regime, disen- 
gaged as much as possible from all its parasitical abuses. 
The Constitutional metaphysicians meditated at that 
time an indissoluble union of the monarchical principle 
with popular ascendancy, as well as that of the Catholic 
Institution with mental emancipation. Such was in 
fact the political Utopia of the principal leaders of the 
Constituent Assembly. 

In the second revolutionary period we see the true 
instinct of the social crisis realizing itself in a definite 
shape. Justly opposed to the political fictions upon 
which the incoherent edifice of the Constituent Assembly 
rested, the Assembly, immortalized under the name of 
The National Convention, was led by its very origin to 
regard the entire abolition of the monarchy as an indis- 
pensable prelude to that social regeneration towards 
which the Revolution directly tended. This abolition, 
without which the French Revolution woidd not have 
been fivLly characterized, was soon to be followed by 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 323 

partial demolitions destined to complete the indication 
of an irresistible tendency to an entire renovation of the 
social system, as far as the only philosophy which conld 
at that time direct this activity permitted. 

After the fall of the Convention, a retrograde action 
made itself immediately felt by the vain return to con- 
stitutional metaphysics peculiar to the first period of the 
-crisis, the barren obstinacy of which tended always to 
reproduce, as far as the general state of the public mind 
permitted, a blind imitation of the English Constitution, 
characterized by a chimerical balance of the different 
fractions of the temporal power. 

Such a political fluctuation perpetually threatening 
the existence of Order, and yet barren of progressive 
results, ended, in spite of energetic popular protests, in 
the passing triumph of the retrograde system. It 
was certainly impossible that such a situation should 
lead to anything but a genuine military dictatorship. 
From the radical contradiction necessarily existing; 
between the elevation of Bonaparte and the monarchical 
spirit which he endeavoured to restore, the political 
habits contracted under his influence were certain to 
facilitate spontaneously, after his fall, the temporary 
return of the natural heirs of the ancient French 
monarchy. 

It will naturally suggest itself to the reader that 
France has again acted that drama of Revolution, on a 
smaller stage and with far inferior actors; the corrupt 
Monarchy of July being replaced by the vague Republic 
of February, which, after having practically demonstrated 
its metaphysical incompetence, resulted in the Dictator- 
ship of December. 

In this strange provisionary situation, consider the 
result of the implicit renunciation by those in office of 
any serious notion of a mental reorganization, their un- 
fitness for which was recognized by themselves. Now 
this incompetence, tacitly confessed, necessarily sur- 



324 COMTE S PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES. 

renders the intellectual and moral power to whomsoever 
can and will seize it : hence the peculiar ascendancy of 
Journalism as a lay pulpit. 

The extreme imperfection of this power ought not to 
prevent our acknowledging the great importance of its 
advent. Regarded historically, this new preponderance, 
which must certainly increase, is a decisive symptom of 
the power which the instinct of spiritual reorganization 
has acquired now-a-days in the Revolutionary School. 

Considering the actual progress of political recompo- 
sition relatively to the temporal organization, it is easy 
to recognize that in spite of the exceptional development 
of a prodigious martial activity, the gradual course of 
the revolutionary crisis concured not less than that of 
the theological system itself, in completing a general 
decline of the military system. The very nature of the 
revolutionary war put an end to the last series of sys- 
tematic wars, tending to perpetuate military activity by 
making use of it in the interests of industrial activity. 
It is thus that the last general source of modern wars 
disappeared throughout the European republic. 

The modern institution of recruiting by force is evi- 
dence of the anti-military disposition shown by the 
people of modern times ; we still find genuine volunteers 
among the officers, but few, or none, among the privates. 
At the same time it tends to destroy military habits and 
ardour, by putting an end to the primitive speciality of 
the profession, and by composing armies of a mass radi- 
cally antipathetic to a military life, which to them is 
merely a temporary burden. 

The recourse to such an expedient marks the 
final decadence of the military system, henceforward 
reduced to a subaltern though indispensable office in the 
mechanism of modern society. The vast military ap- 
paratus preserved amongst all the European nations, 
would, at first sight, appear to announce the imminence 
of a contrary disposition, did not a more searching in- 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 3.25 

vestigation of the situation explain this apparent anomaly 
by referring it directly to the common requirements of 
the revolutionary crisis, more or less spread over the 
whole western republic. 

In a state of profound intellectual and moral disorder, 
which must always render a material anarchy imminent, 
the means of repression must acquire an intensity cor- 
responding to that of the insurrectional tendencies, so 
that an indispensable degree of Order should protect 
true social Progress against the continuous efforts of 
ill-directed ambition united with vicious conceptions. 

Thus we see the same epoch which is destined to wit- 
ness the final disappearance of war, in the proper 
acceptation of the word, has also developed a new 
social mission in Armies, of extreme importance, by 
converting them into a vast political constabulary. 
Standing Armies are now no longer instituted in defence 
of the country against other nations, so much as in pre- 
servation of Order at home. 

It is easy to see how much the social preponderance 
of the industrial element would be augmented and con- 
solidated by a revolutionary crisis which completed the 
secular destruction of the ancient hierarchy, and which 
placed foremost the temporal rank founded upon riches, 
the influence of which has become evidently inordinate 
from the existing intellectual and moral anarchy. 

The most unquestionable and the most dangerous of 
the recent aggravations of the vices inherent in the 
industrial movement, consists in the increased opposi- 
tion established between the respective interests of 
oapitalist and workman. This deplorable antagonism 
shows how far Industry is essentially from any genuine 
organization, since no progress can be accomplished 
without its tending to become oppressive to the greater 
part of those whose co-operation is most indispensable 
to it. 



326 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

The remarks already made upon the general character 
of the aesthetic evolution during the third modern 
phase, exempt us from the necessity of any observations 
on the last half century, which displays important modi- 
fications. The same holds good with regard to the^ 
scientific and philosophical evolution. 



THE FUTURE. 327 



SECTION XII. 



THE FUTURE. 



This historical appreciation, which completes our brief 
examination of the Past, leads us to consider the pre- 
sent time as the epoch in which the grand philosophical 
renovation projected by Bacon and Descartes is to 
determine the spiritual reorganization of modern society, 
destined afterwards to preside over the political regene- 
ration of mankind. 

Guided by his logical principles of the general exten- 
sion of the Positive Method to the rational study of 
social phenomena, Comte has gradually applied to the 
whole of the past his fundamental law of the evolution 
at once mental and social, consisting in the passage of 
Humanity through three successive states : the prepara- 
tory Theological state, the transitory Metaphysical state, 
and the final Positive state. By the aid of this single 
law he has explained all the great historical phases, con- 
sidered as the principal consecutive phases of develop- 
ment, so as rightly to appreciate the true character 
proper to each of them, with the natural emanation of 
one phase from the preceding, and its tendency towards 
the following phase : whence results the conception of 
a homogeneous and continuous connection in the 
whole series of anterior ages, from the first manifes- 
tation of socialitv, to the most advanced condition of 
mankind. 

A law which has sufficed to fulfil adequately these 



328 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

conditions is no mere philosophical fancy, but must con- 
tain an abstract expression of the reality. It can be 
employed with rational security in connecting the future 
with the past. The foremost portion of mankind, after 
having exhausted the successive phases of Theological life, 
and even the different degrees of metaphysical transition, 
is now approaching the completely positive state, the 
principal elements of which have already sufficiently 
received their partial elaboration, and now only await 
then general co-ordination to constitute a new social 
system. 

This co-ordination must be first intellectual, then 
moral, and lastly, political. Every attempt rising from 
any other logical source would be utterly powerless 
against the present state of disorder which is essentially 
mental. As long as this disorder remains, no durable 
institution can be possible, for want of a solid basis ; 
and our social condition will admit of only provisionary 
political measures, destined for the most part to guarantee 
the maintenance of a degree of material Order against 
ambitions everywhere excited by the gradual diffusion 
and extension of spiritual anarchy. To fulfil this office, 
all governments, whatever be their form, will continue 
necessarily to count as they do upon nothing but a vast 
system of corruption, assisted, on occasions of necessity, 
by a repressive force. 

Nothing of what is at present classed is capable of 
being directly incorporated in the final system, all the 
elements of which must previously undergo an entire 
intellectual and moral regeneration : thus the future 
spiritual power, the first basis of a genuine reorganiza- 
tion, will reside in an entirely new class, having no 
analogy with any of those now existing, and originally 
composed of members issuing indifferently, according to 
their peculiar individual vocation, from all ranks of 
society ; the gradual arrival at this salutary incorpora- 
tion will be also essentially spontaneous, since its social 



THE FUTURE. 329 

ascendancy can result only from the voluntary assents 
of all intelligences to the new doctrines successively 
worked out : so that by its nature such an authority 
could neither be decreed nor interdicted. 

As we have recognized in principle that the evolution 
of mankind is characterized by a perpetually increasing 
influence of the speculative over the active life, although 
the latter will always preserve the actual ascendancy, it 
would be contradictory to suppose that the contempla- 
tive part of man will remain for ever deprived of proper 
cultivation and distinct direction in a social state in 
which intelligence will have the most habitual exercise, 
even among the lowest classes. 

At a time when all thinking minds admit the necessity 
of a permanent division between theory and practice, 
for the simultaneous perfecting of both, in the least im- 
portant subjects to which our efforts are directed, can 
we hesitate to extend this healthy principle to the most 
difficult and most important operations, when such a 
progress has become sufficiently realizable ? Now, 
under the purely mental aspect, the separation of the 
two powers, spiritual and temporal, is in fact the mere 
exterior manifestation of the same distinction between 
science and art, transferred to social ideas, and made 
systematic. 

While spiritual reorganization is the most urgent, it 
is also, in spite of the great difficulties attending it, the 
best prepared amongst the most advanced minds. On 
one hand, existing governments renouncing the task of 
directing such an operation, tend thereby to confer this 
high office upon that philosophical system which shall 
prove worthy of presiding over it. On the other hand, 
the populations radically freed from metaphysical illu- 
sions by the teaching of half a century of decisive 
experiments, begin to understand that all the social 
progress compatible with current doctrines has been 
accomplished, and that no important political institution 



330 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

can now arise which is not based upon an entirely new 
philosophy. 

The general principle which determines the separation 
between the respective attributes of spiritual and tem- 
poral power consists in considering the spiritual authority 
as decisive in all that concerns education, whether special 
or general, and merely deliberative in all that con- 
cerns action, whether private or public, its habitual 
interference being only to recall in every case the 
rules of conduct previously established. The temporal 
authority, on the contrary, entirely absolute as far as 
regards action, to the extent of being able, under re- 
sponsibility as to results, to follow a line of conduct 
opposed to the corresponding authority, cannot exercise 
more than a simple deliberative influence over edu- 
cation, being limited to solicit the revision or partial 
modification of the precepts apparently condemned by 
practice. 

It is principally as a general basis to such a system 
that the Positive Philosophy must be previously co- 
ordinated and established, destined as it is to furnish 
henceforward to the human mind a resting-place, by 
means of a homogeneous and hierarchical series of posi- 
tive ideas, at once logical and scientific, upon all orders 
of phenomena, from the lowest to the most eminent 
moral and social phenomena. 

Positive education will be principally characterized by 
the final systematization of human ethics, which, freed 
from all theological conceptions, will rest on positive 
philosophy. The indefinite dispersion of religious creeds 
left to individuals will prevent anything being estab- 
lished on such insecure foundations. What philosophical 
inconsistency can be compared to that of our deists, 
whose dream is now the consecration of morality, by a 
religion without a revelation, without a worship, and 
without a clergy ? 

Humanity must be looked upon as still in a state of 



THE FUTURE. 331 

infancy, as long as its principal rules of conduct, instead 
of being drawn from a just appreciation of its own 
nature, shall continue to rest upon extraneous fictions. 
Such is the general aim, nature, and character of the 
spiritual reorganization which must necessarily com- 
mence and direct the entire regeneration, towards which 
we have seen the permanent course of all the different 
social movements, since the middle ages, more or less 
directly converge. 

As to the temporal reorganization, we will confine 
ourselves to the general principle of the elementary co- 
ordination of modern society. 

In proceeding to do this, we must set aside the 
distinction between the two sorts of functions, public 
and private. In every truly constituted social body, 
each member may, and ought to be, considered as a 
public functionary, inasmuch as his particular activity 
concurs with the general economy. 

The dignity which still animates the most obscure 
soldier in the exercise of his humblest duties, is certainly 
not peculiar to the military order ; it belongs equally to 
everything that is systematic ; it will one day ennoble 
the simplest profession, when Positive Education, causing 
a just general notion of modern sociality to prevail 
everywhere, shall have made it sufficiently understood 
by all, that each partial activity has a continuous 
participation in the common economy. Thus the 
general cessation of the division now existing between 
private and public professions, depends necessarily 
upon the universal regeneration of modern ideas and 
manners. 

Although this final elevation of private professions to 
the dignity of public functions will certainly make no 
essential change in the existing mode of exercising them, 
it will entirely transform their general spirit, and 
probably have a considerable effect upon their usual 
conditions. Whilst on the one hand such a normal 



332 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

appreciation will develope in all classes a noble personal 
feeling of their social value, it will on the other hand 
make evident the permanent necessity of a certain 
systematic discipline, tending to guarantee the pre- 
liminary and continuous obligations proper to every 
career. In one word, this simple change will consti- 
tute spontaneously an universal symptom of regene- 
ration. 

In every society, whatever be its nature and destina- 
tion, each different partial activity becomes classed 
according to the degree of generality which distinguishes 
its habitual character. Consequently the real philo- 
sophical difficulty in this matter consists in the true 
appreciation of the different degrees of generality 
inherent in the different functions of the positive 
organism. 

Now this has already been almost entirely accom- 
plished, although with another intention. Social pro- 
gress, in fact, first presented itself to us as a sort of 
necessary prolongation of the animal series, in which 
beings are the more elevated the nearer they approach 
to the human type; whilst, on the other hand, the 
human evolution is especially characterized by its con- 
stant tendency to make those essential attributes pre- 
dominant which distinguish man from the animal. 
Such is the first basis which positive philosophy will 
naturally furnish to social classification. 

The first application of this hierarchical theory to the 
new social economy leads us to conceive the speculative 
class as superior to the active class, since the first affords 
a wider field for the exercise of the facidties of generali- 
zation and abstraction which form the great distinction 
of human nature. For this purpose, however, it is 
first necessary that the members of this speculative 
class should be sufficiently freed from that speciality 
in their studies and ideas, which we have seen 
to be a decided obstacle to the elaboration of a 



THE FUTURE. 333 

Philosophy, although originally indispensable as a divi- 
sion of labour. 

The speculative class separates itself into two distinct 
parts, according to the two very different directions 
taken by the contemplative spirit, sometimes philoso- 
phical or scientific, sometimes aesthetic or poetical. 
Whatever the social importance of the Fine Arts, it is 
unquestionable that the aesthetic point of view is less 
abstract and less general than the philosophical or 
^estheti^. The latter has immediate relation to the 
fundamental conceptions destined to direct the universal 
exercise of human reason, whereas the other merely 
relates to the faculty of expression, which can never 
occupy the first rank in our mental system. 

The active or practical class, which necessarily em- 
braces an immense majority in its more distinct and 
complete development, has already made its essential 
divisions appreciable : so that with respect to them 
the hierarchical theory has only to systematize the 
distinctions hitherto consecrated by use. To this end 
we must consider first the principal division of industrial 
activity into production, properly so called, and the 
transmission of products. The second is evidently su- 
perior to the first, as regards the abstract nature of its 
operations, and the generality of its relations. 

After dividing the active or practical class into two 
principal categories, one of which confines itself to pro- 
duction, while the other employs itself in the trans- 
mission of products, Comte again subdivides each of 
these into two, according as the production is that of 
simple materials, or their direct employment, and as the 
transmission refers to the products themselves or merely 
to their representative signs. It is plain that of these 
two divisions the last has a more general and abstract 
character than the preceding one, conformably to our 
established rule of classification. These two divisions 
constitute the real industrial hierarchy : placing in the 



334 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

highest rank the Bankers, by reason of the superior 
generality and abstract nature of their operations ; next 
the Merchants, then the Manufacturers, and lastly the 
Agriculturists, whose labours are necessarily more con- 
crete, and whose relations are more restricted than those 
of the other three practical classes. 

By an easy combination of the preceding indications 
every one may form a conception of the positive economy. 
The normal classification resulting from it will be natu- 
rally consolidated by its homogeneity : since in this 
hierarchy no class can refuse to recognize the superior 
dignity of the preceding one, except by immediately 
altering his own position towards the one following, 
the uniformity of the principle of co-ordination being 
constant. The same hierarchical principle extended to 
domestic life, comprises the true law of the subordination 
of the sexes. 

By imposing moral obligations, more extensive and 
more strict in proportion as social influences become 
more general, the fundamental education will directly 
tend also to the abuses inherent in these necessarv 
inequalities. It is clear, too, that these different ele- 
mentary tendencies of the new economy cannot obtain 
their social efficacy until a system of universal educa- 
tion shall have sufficiently developed the attributes and 
manners which must distinguish these different classes, 
and of which we can form no idea in the present 
confused state of things. 

Considered with regard to the degrees of material 
preponderance, henceforward measurable principally by 
wealth, our statical series presents necessarily opposite 
results according as w r e examine the speculative or the 
active class : for in the former the preponderance di- 
minishes, while in the latter it augments, as we ascend 
in the hierarchy. If, for example, the first cooperation, 
even in a purely industrial point of view, of the grand 
•astronomical discoveries which have brought material 



THE FUTURE. 335 

arts to their present perfection, could be duly appreciated 
in every expedition, it is evident that no existing fortune 
could give any idea of the monstrous accumulation of 
riches which would thus have been realized by the 
temporal heirs of a Kepler, a Newton, &c, even if their 
partial remuneration were fixed at the lowest rate. 
Nothing can serve better than such hypotheses to 
demonstrate the absurdity of the pretended principle 
relative to an uniformly pecuniary remuneration for 
all real sendees ; proving as they do that the most 
extensive usefulness, inasmuch as it is too distant and 
too much diffused in consequence of its superior gene- 
rality, can never find its just recompense except in the 
higher social consideration it enjoys. 

From these remarks it is clear that the principal 
pecuniary ascendancy will reside in about the middle of 
the entire hierarchy, in the class of bankers, naturally 
placed at the head of the industrial movement, and 
whose ordinary operations have precisely the degree of 
generality most proper for the accumulation of capital. 
Here it is that we shall find the principal ultimate seat 
of temporal power, properly so called. We must remark 
also, on this subject, that this class will always be by its 
nature the least numerous of the industrial classes ; for 
in general the positive hierarchy will necessarily present 
an increasing numerical extension in proportion as its 
labours becoming more special and more urgent, admit 
and require at once more multifarious agents. 

After this sociological summary it would surely be 
superfluous to add any direct explanation of the neces- 
sarily mobile composition of the various classes making 
up the positive hierarchy. Universal education is emi- 
nently fitted in this respect, without exciting any dis- 
turbing ambitions, to place every one in the situation 
most suitable to his principal aptitudes, in whatever 
rank he may have been bom. This happy influence, 
far more dependent by its nature upon public opinion 



336 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

than upon political institutions, demands two opposite 
conditions both equally indispensable, the fulfilment of 
which will in no wise assail the essential basis of the 
general economy. On the one hand it is necessary that 
the access to every social career should remain constantly 
open to just individual pretensions, and that nevertheless, 
on the other hand, the exclusion of the unworthy should 
be always practicable according to the common ap- 
preciation of the normal guarantees, both intellectual 
and moral, which the fundamental education will have 
prescribed for every important case. 

Doubtless after the present existing confusion shall 
have terminated in some primary regular classification, 
such changes, although always possible, will become 
essentially exceptional, being considerably neutralized 
by the natural tendency to hereditary professions : for 
the greater number of men have in reality no special 
vocation, and at the same time the greater number of 
the social functions require none ; which will naturally 
leave a great habitual efficacy to imitation, except in 
the very rare cases of a real predisposition. 

It would besides be evidently chimerical to dread the 
ultimate transformation of classes into castes, in an 
economy entirely free from the theological principle : 
for it is clear that castes could never have any solid 
existence without a religious consecration. Puerile 
terror on this score must not be made the occasion or 
pretext for an indefinite opposition to every true social 
classification, when the preponderance of the positive 
spirit, always in its nature accessible to a wide dis- 
cussion, will be able to dissipate the anxieties raised by 
the vague and absolute character of theologicormeta- 
physical conceptions. 

Let us now consider the great spiritual reorganization 
of modern society, pointing out its intimate connection 
with the just social reclamations of the lower classes. 
Every spiritual power should be essentially popular, 






THE FUTURE. 337 

since its most extended sphere of duty relates to the 
constant protection of the most numerous classes, 
habitually the most exposed to oppression, and with 
which the education common to all leads it into 
daily contact. In the final state the spiritual class 
will be connected with the popular mass by common 
sympathies, consequent upon a certain similitude of 
situation, and parallel habits of material improvidence, 
as well as by analogous interests with regard to the 
temporal chiefs, necessarily possessors of the principal 
wealth. 

But we must especially remark the extreme popular 
efficacy of speculative authority, whether by reason of 
its office of universal education, or because of the 
regular interference which, according to our previous 
indications, it will always exercise in the different 
conflicts of society : thereby developing suitably the 
mediatory influence habitually attendant on the ele- 
vation of its views, and the generosity of its inclinations. 
Narrow views and malignant passions will in vain 
attempt to institute legally laborious hindrances against 
the accumulation of capital, at the risk of paralyzing 
directly all real social activity. It is clear that these 
tyrannical proceedings will have much less real efficacy 
than the universal reprobation applied by the posi- 
tive ethics to any utterly selfish use of the wealth 
possessed. 

When the new speculative class shall have arisen, the 
great practical collisions continually becoming more 
numerous in the total absence of any industrial syste- 
matization, will doubtless constitute the principal oc- 
casions of its social development, by making apparent 
to all classes the increasing utility of its active moral 
intervention, alone capable of sufficiently tempering 
material antagonism, and of habitually modifying the 
opposing sentiments of envy and disdain inspired on 
either hand. The classes most disposed at present to 



338 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

recognize the real ascendancy which wealth enjoys, will 
then be led by decisive and probably melancholy ex- 
perience to implore the necessary protection of that 
very spiritual power which they now look upon as 
essentially chimerical, 

It is in this manner that a power which by its nature 
can rest on no other foundation than that of its uni- 
versal free recognition, will be gradually established on 
the ground of the services rendered by it. The popular 
point of view is henceforward the only one which can 
spontaneously offer at once sufficient grandeur and dis- 
tinctness to be able to place the minds of men in a truly 
organic direction. 

The unavailing changes of individuals, ministerial or 
even royal, which appear of so much importance to the 
various present factions, will naturally become quite in- 
different to the people, whose own social interests can 
in no wise be affected thereby. 

The assurance of education and work to every one 
will always constitute the sole essential object of popular 
policy properly so called : now this great end, perfectly 
separated from constitutional discussions and combi- 
nations, can never be adequately attained but by a real 
reorganization ; first and foremost spiritual ; afterwards 
necessarily temporal. 

Such is the connection which the entire situation of 
modern society institutes between popular necessities 
and philosophical tendencies, and according to which 
the true social point of view will gradually prevail in 
proportion as the active intervention of the People, 
speaking in their name, begins to characterize more and 
more the grand political problem. 






THE FUTURE. 339 



CONCLUSION, 



We have now passed rapidly through the sciences of 
which Comte has given the philosophy in the six volumes 
of his Cours de Philosophie Positive. This is the real 
and lasting service he has done to Humanity. Respect- 
ing his attempts to reorganize society on the basis he 
lays down, I, for one, deem them premature ; but this 
is not the place to enter upon so vast a subject. The 
curious readei is advised to settle that question for him- 
self, by a careful study of the Politique Positive now in 
course of publication. A few paragraphs, in the way of 
analysis, is all that can be ventured on here. 

He begins with Religion, as the key-stone of the 
social arch; the bond which binds the divergent ten- 
dencies of human beings into unity, and which binds 
together (religare) the diverse individualities into So- 
ciety. Religion, which at first was spontaneous, next 
inspired, then revealed, now in this final state becomes 
demonstrated: following thus the laws of evolution 
which have presided over Science. Religion, as defined 
by Comte, is not this or that form of creed, but the 
harmony proper to human existence, individual and col- 
lective, constituting for the soul a normal consensus 
similar to that of health for the body. It gathers into 
its bosom all the tendencies of our nature, active, 
affectionate, and intelligent. It presides over Politics, 
Art, and Philosophy. 

Every stage of Religion demands the continuous con- 



340 comte's philosophy of the sciences, 

course of two spontaneous influences : the one objective 
and essentially intellectual, the other subjective and 
purely moral. On the one hand, our intelligence must 
conceive an external Power to which our existence must 
be subordinated. On the other, it is equally indispen- 
sable that we should be animated by an internal affec- 
tion capable of binding together all the other affections. 
Submission to the external power naturally seconds this 
internal discipline. Men in our day almost universally 
consider Unity as resulting only from our moral condi- 
tion ; but, in truth, no unity would be possible without 
this objective dependence. When the belief in an 
external power is incomplete or vacillating, the purest 
moral sentiments are incapable of preventing " dHm- 
menses divagations et de profondes dissidences" 

To fulfil its true function {pour nous regler et nous 
rattier), Religion must therefore first subordinate our 
existence to an external and irresistible Power. This 
social dogma is, properly speaking, no more than the 
development of the biological notion of the necessary 
subordination of an organism to a medium. Religion 
rests on the permanent combination of two conditions — 
Love and Faith ; and its " veritable unite consist e a Her 
le dedans et le relier au dehors" Since, then, it con- 
cerns at once both the heart and the mind, it naturally 
divides itself into two parts, one intellectual, the other 
moral ; the first constitutes the credo , properly so called, 
and consists in determining that external order to which 
we are necessarily subordinate. And here it is that the 
capital distinction must be sought between the Positive 
Religion and all other religions. It is, as before stated, 
a religion of demonstration. Its credo comes from the 
demonstrated truths of Positive Science, and the striving 
of science has resulted in furnishing precise and coherent 
views of physical phenomena, and thus furnishing a 
basis to religion. 

Hitherto, in spite of their decrepitude, intellectually 






CONCLUSION. 341 

speaking, the earlier religions have maintained their 
supremacy by reason of moral considerations. To 
Science has been handed over all explanation of phy- 
sical laws ; but moral laws have been reserved for other 
teachers. Comte claims to have made the two one, by 
his foundation of social science. The gradual apprecia- 
tion of the fundamental order reveals to us a final class 
of natural laws more hidden and more complicated 
than the former, but also more nearly concerning 
us. Although the course of our existence is directly 
subordinated to cosmical and biological laws, it is not 
wholly represented by them. Our principal functions 
demand another explanation. We all feel ourselves 
ruled over by chemical, astronomical, and vital laws. 
But on a closer inspection we find there is another yoke, 
not less irresistible though more modifiable, resulting 
from the statical and dynamical laws proper to the 
"Social order. Like all the others, this fatality makes 
itself sensible, first by its physical results, next by its 
intellectual influence, and finally by its moral supremacy. 
Since the dawn of civilization every one has felt that his 
destiny was materially bound to that of his contem- 
poraries, and even his predecessors. Later on, the 
involuntary comparison of various social conditions 
manifests the intellectual dependence of each upon 
the rest. The proudest dreamer cannot misconceive the 
great influence exercised over individual opinions by 
time and place. And finally, as regards the most 
spontaneous phenomena, examination detects the depen- 
dence of our own moral condition on that of the general 
character of the corresponding sociability. Thus, under 
all aspects, man feels himself subject to Humanity. 

Humanity is thus the great Collective Life of which 
human beings are the individuals ; it must be conceived 
as having an existence apart from human beings, just as 
we conceive each human being to have an existence 
<$part from, though dependent on, the individual cells of 



342 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

which his organism is composed. This Collective Life 
is in Comte's system the Eire Supreme ; the only one 
we can know, therefore the only one we can worship. 

Indisposed as I am to occupy any of the few remain- 
ing pages with criticism, I cannot forbear from pointing 
out one immense omission in the foregoing system. It 
makes Religion purely and simply what has hitherto been 
designated Morals. In thus limiting Religion to the 
relations in which we stand towards one another and 
towards Humanity, Comte leaves an important element 
aside ; for, even upon his own showing, Humanity can 
only be the Supreme Being of our world — it cannot be 
the Supreme Being of the Universe. To limit the 
Universe to our planet is to take a rustic untravelled 
view of this great subject. If, in this our terrestrial 
sojourn, all we can distinctly know must be limited to the 
sphere of one planet, nevertheless even here, we, standing 
on this ball of earth and looking into the infinitude of 
which we know it to be but an atom, must irresistibly feel 
and know that the Humanity worshipped here cannot ex- 
tend its dominion there. I say, therefore, that supposing 
our relations towards Humanity may one day be 
systematized into a distinct cultus. and made a Religion, 
and supposing further our whole practical priesthood to 
be limited to it, there must still remain for us, out- 
lying this terrestrial sphere, the other sphere named 
Infinite, into which our eager and aspiring thoughts 
will wander, carrying with them, as ever, the obedient 
emotions of love and awe. So that beside the Religion 
of Humanity, there must be a Religion of the Universe ; 
beside the conception of Humanity, we need the con- 
ception of a God as the Infinite Life, from whom the 
Universe proceeds, not in alien indifference — not in 
estranged subjection — but in the fulness of abounding 
Power, as the incarnation of resistless Activity ! In 
plainer language, there must ever remain the old dis- 
tinction between Religion and Morality — between our 






CONCLUSION. 343 

relations to God and our relations to Man; the only 
difference between the old and the new being that in the 
old theology moral precepts were inculcated with a view 
to a celestial habitat ; in the new they will be inculcated 
withaviewto thegeneral progress andhappiness of the race. 

To resume our analysis of the Politique Positive. 
After treating of Religion — which he does with consi- 
derable detail — he presents his theory of Property. 
This question brulante is one which Socialist writers in 
general haye treated very inconsiderately, not to say 
absurdly. " La Propricte c'est le vol" was, it may be, 
only a pistol fired in the air ; but the experience of revo- 
lutions teaches us the terrible consequences of a pistol 
fired in the air. As far as the social argument was 
concerned, the question of Property was purely one of 
Distribution, not of Origin. It was thought that 
another mode of distribution would be more effective, 
more equitable, more economical. By perplexing this 
question with one of " Rights" of u possession," the 
egotistic fears and prejudices of all possessors were 
aroused, and instead of discussion there was combat, 
instead of argument invective on both sides. 

Comte, as a philosophic socialist, who founds his 
theories upon actualities, who leaves to others the plea- 
sant fields of Utopia, and is content to take human 
nature as he finds it, not only vindicates Property, but 
undertakes to show its essential position in social order. 
He includes it in the whole material and industrial 
activity of man, and shows how the institution of capital 
becomes the necessary basis of that division of labour 
which Aristotle declared to be the principal practical 
characteristic of social harmony ; and by thus permitting 
the division of labour, capital impels every active citizen 
to work not only for himself, but for others. 

The peculiarity of Comte's system is its deduction of 
social principles from biological principles ; and in this 



344 comte's philosophy of the sciences. 

great question of property lie does not discuss alone the 
economical side, but shows how here, as elsewhere, the 
selfish instincts of man lead in their satisfaction to the 
development of unselfish instincts, — how egoism is the 
impulse to altruism : thus the egoistic instinct of 
material preservation, which impels to industry, is the 
foundation of Society, rendering it possible in a higher 
sense than that of mere aggregation of families. 

The same luminous method of deducing the social 
from the individual is seen in the next chapter, 
which treats of " The Family" both as a moral 
and as a political basis, where we see clearly public 
social virtues arising out of private personal feelings. 
Comte is very energetic in his denouncement of what he 
considers the anarchial theories of " female emancipa- 
tion." Considering "woman's mission" to be strictly 
and simply the office of Sentiment, in tempering, 
refining, and rendering more social the essential prac- 
tical Activity of man — viewing woman as the symbol of 
Affection, as man is of Force, he holds that, so far from 
women performing the same work as men, they ought 
not to work at all, except in their domestic sphere. The 
man is bound to work for the woman's support; and 
she, in return, is bound to obey him implicitly. He 
quotes, with approbation, the saying of Aristotle, 
that " woman's force is best shown in surmounting the 
difficulty of obedience." 

The fifth chapter is on Language, which he rightly 
conceives as analogous to Capital. It is intellectual 
capital; the stored-up labour of generations of minds. 
Its social function has never before been so closely indi- 
cated. But to bring forward the views there maintained 
would require considerable space ; indeed, the same may 
be said of the whole volume, the novelty of which pre- 
vents rapid analysis, every point requiring to be placed 
in a light acceptable to the reader. 



CONCLUSION. 345 

The third and fourth volumes, in which Social 
Dynamics are discussed, have not yet appeared. It is 
lioped that to them, and to the whole of Comte's works, 
a fitting introduction has been presented in the volume 
ive now close. 



INDEX. 



Abstract and concrete mechanics, 71. 

^Esthetic, scientific, and philosophic 
evolution, 313-321. 

Ages of fetichism and polytheism, 273. 

Aim and scope of positivism, 8. 

Albumen, components of, 182. 

Aliment and structure, relation "be- 
tween, 197. 

Alleged insanity of Comte, 3. 

Analogy between human and social 
organism, 34. 

Analysis and synthesis, advantages of, 
120. 

Analvsis of Comte's political philoso- 
phy, 339-345. 

Analysis of the reflective faculty, 230. 

Anarchy of politics, causes of the 
present, 12. 

Animal and vegetative life defined, 
192. 

Anorganic matter, 153. 

Anthropomorphic tendency of the 
human mind, 90. 

Art and science, connection of, 165. 

Ascherson's discovery of cell-formation 
in fat or oil, 159. 

Astronomy and religion, 84, 92. 

Astronomy, general considerations on, 
75. 

— superior to all other sciences, 81. 

Astronomical phenomena, exploration 
of, 79. 

Atheism imputed to Comte, 24. 



Attempts to create a political doctrine,. 
243. 



Bichat's definition of life, 106 ; his 
device for decomposing organism, 
180. 

: Binary, ternary, and quaternary com- 
binations, 143. 

: Biographical Introduction, 1. 

| Biology and chemistry, assimilation 

between, 134. 
Biology should be separated from 
medicine, 166. 

j Birth and education of Comte, 2. 

j Bliss, Comte's year of, 6. 

i Bowman and Todd, fallacies of, 204. 

; Brame's disco\ cries in crystallization, 
154. 



j Carpenter (Dr.) on the origin of 

organic life, 176. 
t Catalytic force, 124. 
i Catholicism in the middle ages, 288- 

299. 
1 Celestial and terrestrial physics, 44. 
| Cellular tissues the basis of every 

organism, 185. 
Cerebral theory, a new, 213. 
'. Character of scientific conceptions 

considered, 250. 
! Chevreul on the laws of assimilation, 

193. 



348 



INDEX. 



Chemical and vital phenomena de- 

tined, 139. 
Chemical nomenclature, comparative 

perfection of, 127. 

— phenomena, considerations respect- 
ing, 115. 

Chemistry and physics, distinction 

between, 95. 
Chemistry, general considerations on, 

113. 
Chossat's (M.) experiments on pigeons, 

195. 
Classification of chemical compounds, 

117. 

— of the sciences, 40. 

Coleridge on Bicliat's definition of 
life, 166. 

■Communism opposed by positivism, 
11. 

Comparison the great art of biology, 
175. 

Compounds, classification of chemical, 
117. 

Comte's opinion of St. Simon, 3 ; 
rapidity of composition, 4 ; story 
of his wrongs, 4 ; romantic love, 6 ; 
year of happiness, 6 ; his intro- 
ductory lecture, 14 ; his estimation 
of mathematics, 50. 

Condorcet's conception of sociology, 
247. 

Connection between astronomy and 
religion, 87. 

Contemplation, synthetical and ana- 
lytical, 229. 

Cuvier on the laws of nature, 53. 

— on the comparative anatomy of an 
organ, 178. 



De Blainville's definition of life, 
171. 

Definition of chemistry, 116. 

Difference between physical and che- 
mical phenomena, 96. 

— between chemical and vital phe- 
nomena, 139. 



Distinction between organic and an - 
mal life, 187. 

Divisions of chemistry as yet imper- 
fect, 130. 

Doctrine of chemical affinities, 123. 

— of positive philosophy, 9. 

Education, Comte's views of, 16. 

Egoism and altruism, 217. 

Elementary and immediate synthesis 
or analysis, 146. 

Embryology, one of the laws of, ex- 
plained, 33. 

Exercise, the laws of, in connection 
with animal life, 172. 

Experiment little employed in bio- 
logy, 175. 

Exploration of astronomical pheno- 
mena, 79. 

Exposition of humanity, Comte's, 35- 
40. 

Expression and conception defined, 228. 

Extent of mathematical science, 63. 

Fetichism and polytheism analysed, 

273-287. 
Fibrine, constituents of, 182. 
Fibrous, cartilaginous, and osseous 

tissues, 186. 
Final causes, Comte on the doctrine 

of, 89. 
French, revolution (the) considered, 

322-326. 
Function must involve structure, 143. 
Fundamental character of theological 

philosophy, 102. 

— law of evolution, 26. 

Gall's arrangement of the nobler 

instincts, 223. 
General and special geometry, 66. 

— considerations on chemistry, 113. 
Geometrical and mechanical astrono- 
my, 84. 

Geometry of the ancients, 66. 
— , extent of the science of, 65. 



INDEX. 



349 



Human and social organism, analogy 
between, 35. 

— evolution considered, 268. 

— mind, the, emancipated by che- 
mistry, 129. 

Hypothesis, great utility of, 105. 

Independence of astronomical phe- 
nomena, 86. 

Individuality, tendency to, in polyps, 
170. 

Industrial order, rise of the, con- 
sidered, 305. 

Inert bodies, 70. 

Influence and method of physics, 101. 

Inorganic and organic bodies, no real 
distinction between, 134. 

— substances definite in their com- 
position, 150. 

Instinct and intelligence, 206. 
Intellectual anarchy, increase of, 243. 

— evolution, three phases of, 10. 
Introductory lecture of Comte, 14, 
Inventions in the latter centuries of 

the Middle Ages, 309. 
Isomerism explained, 150. 

Laws of Nature— what are they ? 51. 
- — , objections to the phrase of, 52. 
Liebig's fallacy regarding the nutri- 
tive properties of gelatine, 197. 
Life an impenetrable mystery, 215. 

Materialism or immaterialism, 198. 
Mathematics analyzed, 61. 

— applied to physics, 99. 
Mechanical and geometrical astro- 
nomy, 84. 

Merorganic matter, 153. 
" Methods of Nature," 55. 
Method and elements of social statics, 
256, 267. 

— and position of chemistry, 121. 

— of physics, 103. 
Metaphysical assumptions, 140. 

— conceptions, character of, 111. 

— explanation of vital force, 138. 



Metaphysical method, the, 29. 

— (the) predominates in the study of 
life, 164. 

— mystery regarding instinct, 209. 
Middle ages, Catholicism in the, 2S8- 

299. 

Mill and Comte on hypothesis, 105, 
110. 

Mill on intellectual evolution, 20. 

Mill's psychological views, 210. 

Modern geometry, 67- 

Modern industry, philosophical cha- 
racter of, 311. 

Monads, Comte's objection to the 
doctrine of, 189. 

Mulder on the first form of organic 
life, 156. 

— on synthesis, 148. 

Muscular action, voluntary and in- 
voluntary, 207. 

Natural phenomena, the two great 
classes of, 43. 

— religion of the metaphysicians, 239. 
Newton's philosophic insight, 86. 
Nobler instincts (the) few in number, 

222. 
Note on the law of evolution, 56. 
Nutritive tendency, the, 219. 

Obseetation and experiment, deve- 
lopment of, in physics, 98. 

— and reasoning, false theory regard- 
ing, 227. 

— in connection with biology, 174. 
Order and progress united by sociology, 

252. 
Organic and inorganic physics, 43. 

— chemistry, definition of, 132. 

— substances indefinite in their com- 
position, 151. 

Organised substances, first static law 
of, 145; second law, 152; final 
law, 157. 

Oreanogens, protein composed of four, 
182. 



350 



INDEX. 



Passage from the inorganic to the 

organic, 142. 
Perfectibility, the two instincts of, 220. 
Phenomena of the universe, three 

stages in the history of the, 26. 

— of thought and sensation, 200. 
Philosophic character of physiology, 

191. 
Philosophical anatomy, 180 ; object 
of, 188. 

— considerations on the mathemati- 
cal sciences, 58. 

— properties of chemistry, 129. 
Philosophy, what is it? 18. 
Physics, influence and method of, 101. 
— , scope and bearing of, 93. 
Physiology subordinate to chemistry, 

133. 

— the basis of psychology, 214. 
Political economy, philosophical re- 
flections on, 247. 

— future, Comte's views regarding 
the, 327-338. 

— philosophy, analysis of Comte's, 
339-345. 

Polytheism and fetichism, the ages of, 
273. 

Positive knowledge based on mathe- 
matical analysis, 62. 

■ — morality, the natural conclusion 
of, 222. 

— philosophy embraces five funda- 
mental sciences, 46. 

■ — philosophy can alone reorganise 
society, 245. 

— utility of, 215. 

Position and method of chemistry, 121. 
Positivism, aim and scope of, 8. 
Precision not always certainty, 47. 
Prejudices corrected by science, 28. 
Preservative instincts, the three, 220. 
Protein composed of four organogens, 

182. 
Proximate principles of organic matter, 

181. 
Psychological opinions of Mill, 210. 



Psychology: a new cerebral theory, 
213. 

Radical inconsistency of the revo- 
lutionary doctrine, 238. 

Rational mechanics, the problem of, 
69. 

— , the three fundamental laws of, 72. 

Relation of science to art, 165. 

Relative or animal life, 199. 

Revolutionary philosophy, influence of 
the, 241. 

Romantic attachment of Comte, 6. 

Schelling's " Erster Entwurf " pla- 
giarized by Coleridge, 168. 
Science correcting prejudices, 28. 

— of life, the, 163. 

Sciences, classification of the, 40. 
Scope and bearing of physics, 93. 

— and method of biology, 173. 
Sidereal astronomy, our limited know- 
ledge of, 77. 

Social doctrine, basis of a new, 5. 

— dynamics, study of, 268. 

— science founded on no positive 
basis, 246. 

Special and general geometry, 66. 

— senses, Comte's criticism on the, 
209. 

Speculative faculties, analysis of the, 

"224. 
Spherical form, assumption of * ne > ia 

organic substances, 158. 
Spirit of sociology, 249. 
Statics and dynamics, 73. 
Stationary school, the, 242. 
St. Simon's acquaintance with Comte, 

3. 
Substitute for the term "laws of 

Nature," 55. 
Syuthesis and analvsis, advantages of, 

120. 

Teleorganic matter, 153. 



INDEX. 



351 



Theological and metaphysical politics, 
peculiarities of, 249. 

— philosophy, fundamental character 
of, 102. 

Thought and sensation, phenomena 
of, 200. 

Three reigning doctrines, the, 233. 

Todd and Bowman on the relation of 
thought to the nervous system, 202. 

Transition age, the, 300. 

Two great classes of natural pheno- 
mena, 43. 

Univebsal form of early organic 
life, 155. 



Utility of hypothesis, 105. 

Vegetative and animal life, 177> 

190. 
Vital dynamics, 190. 
Vitality of organic fluids, Comte on 

the, 183. 
Voluntary and involuntary muscular 

action, 207. 

What are the laws of Nature ? 51. 
What is philosophy ? 18. 
Will assigned by Gait to the emo- 
tional region, 226. 
Works published by Comte, 4. 



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CONEYS FOREIGN CATHEDRALS, HOTELS DE VILLE, TOWN HALLS, 

AND OTHER REMARKABLE BUILDINGS IN FRANCE, HOLLAND, GERMANY, 
AND ITALY. 32 fine large Plates. Imoerial folio (pub. at 10/. 10s.), half morocco, gilt edicts, 
3/. 13s. 6d. 1842 

CORNWALL, AN ILLUSTRATED ITINERARY OF; including Historical and Descrip • 

tive Accounts. Imperial 8vo, illustrated by 118 beautiful Engravings on Steel and Wood, by 
Landells, Hinchcliefe, Jackson, Williams, Sly, etc. after drawings by Crkswick. 
(Pub. at 16s.), half morocco, 8s. 1842 

Cornwall is undoubtedly the most interesting county in England. 

CORONATION OF GEORGE THE FOURTH, by Sir George Nayler. in a Series of 

above 40 magnificent Paintings of the Procession, Ceremonial, and Banquet, ccrrvrehending 
faithful portraits of many of the distinguished Individuals who were present; wna historical 
and descriptive letterpress, atlas folio (pub. at 52/. 10s.), half bound morocco, gilt edges, 
12/. 12s. 

COTMANS SEPULCHRAL BRASSES IN NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK, tending to 
illustrate the Ecclesiastical, Military, and Civil Costume of former ages, with Letter-press 
Description, etc. by Dawson Turner, Sir S. Meyrick, etc. 173 Flates. Tlie enamelled 
Brass*?* are splendidly illuminated. 2 vols. impl. 4to half-bound morocco gilt edges, 6/. 6s. 1838, 

— ■ " ■ tne same, large paver, imperial folio, half morocco, ftit oi^e«, 8/. 8*. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. S 



COTMAN'S ETCHINGS OF ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS in Tarious counties !■ 
Englaud, with Letter-press Descriptions by Rickman. 2 vols, imperial folio, containing IA1 
nighly spirited Etchings (pub. at 2il. ), half morocco, U. 8s. 1833 

DAN I ELL'S ORIENTAL SCENERY AND ANTIQUITIES. The original magnified 
edi';ion, 150 splendid coloured Views, oc the largest scale, of the Architecture, Antiquities, ana 
Landscape Scenery of Hindoostan, 6 vols, in 3, elephant folio (pub. at 210^.), elegantly half- 
bound morocco, i>2l. 10s. 

DANIELLS ORIENTAL SCENERY, 6 vols, in 3, small folio, 150 Plates (pub. at 18/. ISs. 
half-bound morocco, 61. 6s. 
This is reduced Troiu the preceding large work, and is uncoloured. 

DAN I ELL'S ANIMATED NATURE, being Picturesque Delineations of the most interesdng 
Subjects from all Branches of Natural History, 125 Engravings, with Letter-press T^v^iption* 
2 vols, small folio (pub. at 15^. 15*.), half morocco (uniform with the Oriental Scenery), 31. os. 

DON QUIXOTE, PICTORIAL EDITION. Translated by Jarvis, carefully revised- 
With a copious original Memoir of Cervantes. Illustrated by upwards of 820 beautiful Wood 
Engravings, after the celebrated Designs of Tony Johasxot, including 16 new and beautiful 
large Cuts, by Armstrong, now hist added. 2 vols, royal Svo (pub. at 21. 10s.), cloth gilt, 
1/. 8s. 1813 

DUUfc ^ GALLERY, a Series of 50 Beautifully Coloured Plates from the most Celebrated 
Piccaj* in this Remarkable Collection: executed by R. Cockeurn (Custodian). All 
mounted on Tinted Card-board in the manner o Drawings, imperial folio, including 4 very 
large additional Plates, published separately at rom 3 to 4 guineas each, and not before 
included in the Series. Iu a handsome portfolio, w *k morocco back (pub. at 40^.), 161. 16s. 

"This is one of the most splendid and interesting of the British Picture Galleries, and has 
for some years been qui*e unattainable, even at the full price." 

EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS.— COL. VYSE'S GREAT WORK ON THE 

PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH. With an Appendix, by J. S. Perring, Esq., on the Pyramids at 
Abou Roash, the Favoum, &c. &c. 2 vols, imperial 8vo, with 60 Plates, lithographed by 
Haghe (pub. at 21. 12s. 6d.), U. Is. 1840 

EGYPT— PERRING'S FIFTY-EiGHT LARGE VIEWS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF 

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, ABOU ROASH, &c. Drawn from actual Survey and 
Admeasurement. With Notes and References to Col. Vyse's great Work, also to Denon, the 
great French Work on Egypt, Rosellini, Belzoni, Burckhardt, Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Lane, 
and others. 3 Parts, elephant folio, the size of the great French M Egypte" (pub. at 15^. 15s.) 
in printea wrappers, 3^. 3s.; half-bound morocco, it. 14s. 6d. 1812 

ENGLEFIELD'S ISLE OF WIGHT. 4to. 5 large Plates, Engraved by Cooke, and a Geo 
logical Map (pub. 71. 7s.), cloth, 21. as. l 81 g 

FLAXMAN'S HOMER. Seventy-five beautiful Compositions to the Iliad and Odyssey, 
engraved under Flaxmak's inspection, by Piroli, Moses, and Blake. 2 vols, oblong folio 
(pub. at bl. 5s.), boards 21. 2s. lg - 

FLAXMAN'S /ESCHYLU5, Thirty-six beautiful Compositions from. Oblong folio ipub. at 
21. 12s. 6d.), boards U. Is. 1831 

FLAXMAN'S HESIOD, Thirty -seven beautiful Compositions from. Oblong folio (pub. at 

21. 12s. 6d.) t boards U. 5s. 1817 

'• Flaxman's unequalled Compositions from Homer ; ./Eschylus, and Ilesiod, have long 

been the admiration of Europe; of their simplicity and beauty the pen is quite incapable ot 

conveying an adequate impression." — Sir Thomas Laurence. 

FLAXMAN'S ACTS OF MERCY. A Series of Eight Compositions, in the manner of 
Ancient Sculpture, engraved in imitation of the original Drawings, by F. C. Lewis. Oblong 
folio (pub. at 21. 2s.), half-bound morocco, 16s. 1831 

FROISSART, ILLUMINATED ILLUSTRATIONS OF. Seventy-four Plates, printed in 
Gold and Colours. 2 vols, super-royal Svo, hali-bound, uncut (pub. at 4/. 10s.), 31. 10s. 



the sams, large paper, 2 vols, royal 4to, haJf-bound, uncut (pub. at 10*'. 10s.) ; 61. 6s. 



GELL AND GANDY'S POMPEIANA; or, /^pography, Edifices, and Ornaments ei 

Pompeii. Original Series, containing the Res\f»t-of the Excavations previous tc 1819 2 vols, 
royal Svo, best edition, with upwards of 100 beautiful Line Engravings by Goodall, Cooki?" 
Heath, Pye, etc. (pub. at 71. 4s.), boards, 31. 3s. 1824 

GEMS OF ART, 36 FINE ENGRAVINGS, after Rembrandt, Cuyp, Reynolds, Pols- 
six, M trail. i o, Texiers, Corregio, Van dervelde, folio, proof impressions, in portfolio 
(pub. at 8/. 8s.), II. Us. 6d. 

GILLRAY'S CARICATURES, printed from the Original Plates, all engraved by himself 
between 1779 and 1810, comprising the best Political and Humorous Satires of the Reign of 
George the Third, in upwards of 600 highly spirited Engravings. In 1 large vol. atlas folio 
(exactly uniform with the original Hogarth, as sold by the advertiser), half-bound ved morocco 
extra, gilt edges, 8^. 8s. 

GILPIN'S PRACTICAL HINTS UPON LANDSCAPE GARDENING, with som« 
Remarks on Domestic Architecture. Royal gvo, Plates, cloth (pub. at 1/.), 7*. 

GOETHE'S FAUST, ILLUSTRATED BY RETZSCH in 26 beautiful Outlines. Royal 
itpjpuo. at It. Is.), gilt c'-vth. 10s. 6d. 
This edition contains a translation of the original poem, vritn historical and descriptive notai. 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



GOODWIN'S DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE A Series of New Designs for Mansion, 
Villas, Rectory-Houses, Parsonage-Houses ; Bailiff's, Gardener's, Gamekeeper's, and Park- 
Gate Lodges : Cottages and other Residences, in the Grecian, Italian, and Old English Style 
of Architecture : with Estimates. 2 vols, royal 4to, 90 Plates (pub. at 5/. os.), cloth, 21. 12*. *6ci. 

r,R!NDLAY'S (CAPT.) VIEWS IN INDIA, SCENERY, COSTUME, AND ARCHI- 
TECTURE : chic Qv- en the Western Side of India. Atlas 4to. Consisting of 36 most beauti- 
fully coloured Plates, highly finished, in imitation of Drawings; with Descriptive Lettei- 
press. (Pub. at 12/. 12.?.), half-bound morocco, gilt edges, 8*'. 8.5. 1830 

This is perhaps the most exquisitely-coloured volume of landscapes ever produced, 

HANSARD'S ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF ARCHERY. Being the complete History and 
Practice of the Art : interspersed with numerous Anecdotes; forming a complete Manual for 
the Bowman. 8vo. Illustrated by 39 beautiful Line Engravings, exquisitely finished, by 
Engleheart, Portbury, etc., after Designs by Stefhanoff (pub. at 1/. 11*. 6c/.), giit cloth, 
10*. 6rf. 

HARRIS'S GAME AND WILD ANIMALS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. Large imp!, 
folio. 30 beautifully coloured Engravings, with 30 Vignettes of Heads, Skins, &c. (pub. at 
10/. 10*.), hf. morocco, 61. 6s. 18 i4 

HARRIS'S WILD SPORTS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. Impl. 8vo. 26 beautifully co- 
loured Engravings, and a Map (pub. at 21. 2s.), giit cloth, gilt edges, 1/. Is. 1S44 

HEATH'S CARICATURE SCRAP BOOK, on 60 Sheets, containing upwards of 1000 Comic 
Subjects after Seymour, Cruikshanx, Phiz, and other eminent Caricaturists, oblong folio 
(pub. at 21. 2*.), cloth, gilt, 15*. 

This clever and entertaining volun.e is now enlarged by ten additional sheets, each con- 
taining numerous subjects. It includes the whole oi Heath's Omnium Gatherum, both Series; 
Illustrations of Demonology and Witchcraft , Old Ways and New Ways; Nautical Dictionary; 
Scenes in London; Sayings and Doings, etc.; a series of humorous illustrations of Proverbs, 
etc. As a large and almost infinite storehouse of humour it stands alone. To the young 
artist it would be found a most valuable collection of studies; and to the family circle a con- 
stant source of unexceptionable amusement. 

HOGARTH'S WORKS ENGRAVED BY HIMSELF. 153 fine Plates (including the two 
well-known " suppressed Plates"), with elaborate Letter- press Descriptions, by J. Nichols. 
Atlas folio (pub. at 50/.), half-bound morocco, gilt back and edges, with a secret pocket for 
suppressed plates, 11. 7s. 1822 

HOLBEIN'S COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH. A Series of 80 exquisitely beautiful 
Portraits, engraved by Bartolozzi, Cooper, and others, in imitation of the original 
Drawings preserved in the Royal Collection at Windsor; with Historical and Biographical 
Letter-press by Edmund Lodge, Esq. Published by John Chamberlaine. Imperial 4to 
(pub. at 15/. 15*.), half-bound morocco, full gilt back and edges, 51. 15*. 6c/. 1812 

HOFLAND'S BRITISH ANGLER'S MANUAL; Edited by Edward Jesse, Esq.; or, 
the Art of Angling in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; including a Piscatorial Account 
of the principal Rivers, Lakes, and Trout Streams; with Instructions in Fly Fishing, Trolling, 
and Angling of every Description. With upwards of 80 exquisite Plates, many of which are 
highly-finished Landscapes engraved on Steel, the remainder beautifully engraved on Wood. 
Svo, elegant in gilt cloth, 12*. 18-iS 

HOPE'S COSTUME OF THE ANCIENTS. Illustrated in upwards of 320 beautifully- 
engraved Plates, containing Representations of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Habits and 
Dresses. 2 vois. royal Svo, New Edition, with nearly 20 additional Plates, boards, reduced 
to 21. as. 1841 

HOWARD (FRANK) ON COLOUR, as a Means of Art, being an adaptation of the Expe- 
rience of Professors to the practice ol Amateurs, illustrated by 18 coloured Plates, post Svo, 
cloth gilt, 8*. 

In this able volume are shown the ground colours in which the most celebrated painters 
worked. It is very valuable to the connoisseur, as well 'as the student, in painting and water- 
colour drawing. 

HOY/ARD'S (HENRY, R. A.) LECTURES ON PAINTING. Delivered «t the Royal 
Academy, with a Memoir, by his son, Frank Howard, large post8vo, cloth, 7*. 6c/. IS IS 

HOWARD'S (FRANK) SPIRIT OF SHAKSPEARE. 4S3 fine outline Plates, illustrative of 
all the principal Incidents in the Dramas of our national Bard, 5 vols. Svo (pub. at 14/. S*. ), 
cloth, 21. 2s. 1827—33 

*** The 483 Plates may be had without the letter-press, for illustrating all 8vo editions of 
Shakspeare, for 1/. 11*. 6c/. 

HUMPHREY'S (H. NOEL) ART OF ILLUMINATION AND MISSAL PAINTING, 

illustrated with 12 splendid Examples from the Great Masters of the Art, selected from Missals- 
all btfmtifully illuminated. Square 12mo, decorated binding, 1/. I*. 

HUMPHREY'S COINS OF ENGLAND, a Sketch of the progress of the English Coinage, 
from the earliest period to the present time, with 228 beautiful fac- similes of the most interest- 
ing specimens, illuminated in gold, silver, and copper, square Svo, neatly decorated binding, 18*. 

HUNT'S EXAMPLES OF TUDOR ARCHITECTURE ADAPTED TO MODERN 

HABITATIONS. Royal 4to, 37 Plates (pub. at 2/. 2*.), half morocco 1/. 4*. 

HUNT'S DESIGNS FOR PARSONAGE-HOUSE? ALMSHOUSES, ETC. Roya! 
4*o 21 Tlates (p- b. at l/. l*.), half moruce*. M«. 1W1 



PUBLISHED OK SOLD BT II. G. BOHN. 5 

HUNTS DESIGNS FOR GATE LODGES, GAMEKEEPERS' COTTAGES, ETC 

Royal 4io, 13 Plates (put), at 11. Is.), half morocco, 14*. 1841 

HUNT'S ARCHITETTURA CAMPESTRE: OR, DESIGNS FOR LODGES, GAR- 
DENERS' HOUSES, etc. IN THE ITALIAN STYLE. 12 Plates, royal 4to (pub. at 
li. 1*.), half morocco, 14a. 18C7 

ILLUMINATED BOOK OF CHRISTMAS CAROLS, square 8vo. 24 Borders illuminated 
in Gold and Colours, and 4 beautiful Miniatures, richly Ornamented Binding (pub. at 11. .5*.), 
15s. ISAti 

ILLUMINATED BOOK Or NEEDLEWORK, By Mrs. Owen, with a Hist >ry of Needle- 
work, bv the Countess of Wilton, Coloured Plates, post Svo (pub. at 18s.), gilt cljth, 9s. 1847 

ILLUMINATED CALENDAR FOR 1S50. Copied from a celebrated Missal known as the 
"Houis" of the Duke of Anjou, imperial 8vo, 36 exquisite Miniatures and Borders, in gold and 
colours, Ornamented Binding (pub. at 21. 2s.), 15s. 

ILLUSTRATED FLY-FISHER'S TEXT BOOK. A Complete Grjde to the Science of Trout 
and Salmon Fishing. By Theophiltjs South, Gent. (Ed. Chitty, Barrister). With 
23 beautiful Engravings on Steel, alter Paintings by Cooper, Newton, Fielding, Lee, and 
others. 8vo (pub. at 11. lis. 6tL). cloth, gilt, 10s. 6ci. 1845 

ITALIAN SCHOOL OF DESIGN. Consisting of 100 Plates, chiefly engraved by Barto- 
lozzi, after the original Pictures and Drawings of Guercixo, Michael Angelo, Domeni- 

CHINO, AXXIBALE, L-UDOVICO, and AGOSTINO CAE.ACCI, PlETRO DA CORTONA, CARLO MA- 

ratti, and others, in the Collection of Her Majesty. Imperial 4to (pub. at 10*. 10s.), half mo- 
rocco, gilt edges, 31. 3s. 1842 

JAMES' (G. P. R.) BOOK OF THE PASSIONS, royal Svo, illustrated with 16 splendid 
Line Engravings, after drawings by Edward Coursoui.d Stephanoff Chalon, Kenkt 
Meadows, and Jenkins; engraved under the superintendence of Charles Heath. New 
and impro^d edition (just published), elegant in gilt cloth, gilt edges (pub. at 1/. lis. <k'.) 
12s. 

JAMESONS BEAUTIES OF THE COURT OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 2 vol*, 
impl. 8vc. 21 beautiful Portraits (pub. at 21. 5s.), cloth, 1/. Is. 1838 

JOHNSON'S SPORTSMAN'S CYCLOPEDIA of the Science and Practice of the Field, t!.e 
Turf, and the Sod, or operations of the Chase, the Course, and the Stream, in one very thick 
vol. 8vo, illustrated with upwards of 50 Steel Engravings, alter Cooper, "Ward, Hancock, and 
others (pub. at 1/. lis. 6d.), cloth, 15s. 

KNIGHTS (HENRY GALLY), ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF ITALY, 

FROM THE TIME OF COXSTANTTNE TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. With an 
Introduction and Text. Imperial folio. First Series, containing 40 beautiful and highly inte- 
resting Views of Ecclesiastical Buildings in Italy, several of which are expensively illuminated 
in gold and colours, half-bound morocco, 5/. 5s. 1843 

Second and Concluding Series, containing 41 beautiful and highly-interesting Views of Eccle- 
siastical Buildings in Italy, arranged in Chronological Order; with Descriptive Letter-press. 
Imperial folio, half-bound morocco, 5/. 5s. 1844 

KNIGHT'S (HENRY GALLY) SARACENIC AND NORMAN REMAINS. To illus- 
trate the Normans in Sicily. Imperial folio. 30 large Engravings, consisting of Picturesque 
Views, Architectural Remains, Interiors ar.d Exteriors of Buildings, with Descriptive Letter- 
press. Coloured like Drawings, half-bound morocco, SL 8s. 1846 
But very few copies are now first executed in this expensive manner. 

KNIGHT'S PICTORIAL LONDON. 6 vols, bound in 3 thick handsome vols, imperial Svo, 
illustrated by 650 Wood Engravings (pub. at 3/. 3«.), cloth, gilt, 11. 18s. 1841-44 

LONDON— WILKINSON'S LONDINA ILLUSTRATA ; OR, GRAPHIC AND 
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS of the most Interesting and Curious Architectural 
Monuments of the City and Suburbs of London and Westminster, e.g., Monasteries, Churches, 
Charitable Foundations, Palaces, Halls, Courts, Processions, Places of early Amusements, 
Theatres, and Old Houses. 2 vols, imperial 4to, containing 20" Copper-plate Engravings, with 
Historical and Descriptive Letter-press (pub. at 261. 5s.), half-bound morocco, 5^. 5s. 1X19-25 

LOUDON'S EDITION OF REPTQN ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING AND 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. New Edition, 250 Wood Cuts, Portrait, thick £vo, cloth 
lettered (pub. at 1/. 10s.), 15s. 

LYSON'S ENVIRONS OF LONDON; being an Historical Account of the Towns, Villages 
and Hamlets in the Counties of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Herts, and Middlesex, 5 vols. 4to, Plates 
(pub. at 101. 10s.), cloth, 21. 10s. 
The same, large paper, 5 vols, royal 4to (pub. at 15^. 15s.), c!oth, Zl. 3s. 

MACGREGOR'S PROGRESS OF AMERICA FROM THE DISCOVERY BY 

COLUMBUS, to the year 184G, comprising its History and Statistics, 2 remarkably thick 
volumes, imperial tfo. cloth lettered (pub. at 41. 14s. &*.), 11. lis. GU. 1S47 

MARTIN'S CIVIL COSTUME OF ENGLAND, from the Conquest to the Present Period 
from Tapestrv, MSS. &c Hoyai «o Gl Plates, fc#auiifjU# Illuminated in Cold and Colours, 
eUrth, ?ilt V »■ W »«W3 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



MEYRICK'S PAINTED ILLUSTRATIONS OF ANCIENT ARMS AND ARMOUR, 

a Critical Inquiry into Ancient Armour as it existed in Europe, but particularly in England, 
from the Norman Conquest to the Reign of Charles II, with a Glossary, etc. by Sir Samuel 
Bush Meyrick, LL.D., F.S.A., etc., new and greatly improved Edition, corrected and en- 
larged throughout by the Author himself, with the assistance of Literary and Antiquarian 
Friends (Albert Way, etc.), 3 vols, imperial 4to, illustrated by more than 100 Plates, 
splendidly illuminated, mostly in gold and silver, exhibiting some ol the finest Specimens 
existing in England; also a new Plate of the Tournament of Locks and Keys (pub. at 21/.), 
half-bound morocco, gilt edges, 10/. 10*. 1841 

Sir Walter Scott justly describes this collection as "the ixcomp arable armoury." 
—Edinburgh Review. 

MEYRICK'S DESCRIPTION OF ANCIENT ARMS AND ARMOUR, in the Collec- 
tion of Goodrich Court, 150 Engravings by Jos. Skelton, 2 vols, folio (pub. at 11/. 11*.), 
half morocco, top edges gilt, 11. 14s. 6d. 

MILLINGENS ANCIENT UNEDITED MONUMENTS; comprising Painted Greek 
Vases, Statues, Busts, Bas-Beliefs, and other Bemains of Grecian Art. 62 large and beautiful 
Engravings, mostly coloured, with Letter-press Descriptions, imperial 4to (pub. at 9/. 9s. ), 
half morocco, U. Us. 6d. 1822 

MOSES' ANTIQUE VASES, CANDELABRA, LAMPS, TRIPODS, PATER/E, 

Tazzas, Tombs, Mausoleums, Sepulchral Chambers, Cinerary Urns, Sarcophagi, Cippi; and 
other Ornaments, 170 Plates, several of which are coloured, with Letter-press, by Hope, small 
8vo (pub. at 3/. 3s.), cloth, 1/. 5*. 1814 

MURPHY'S ARABIAN ANTIQUITIES OF SPAIN; representing, in 100 very highly 
finished line Engravings, by Le Keux, Finbbn, Landseer, G. Cooke, &«*, the most 
remarkable Bemains of the Architecture, Sculpture, Paintings, and Mosaics of the Spanish 
Arabs now existing in the Peninsula, including the magnificent Palace of Alhambra; the 
celebrated Mosque and Bridge at Cordova; the Boyal Villa of Generalise; and the Casa de 
Carbon: accompanied by LetteT-press Descriptions, in 1 vol. atlas folio, original and brilliant 
impressions of the Plates (pub. at 42/.), half morocco, 12/. 12*. 1813 

MURPHYS ANCIENY CHURCH OF BATALHA, IN PORTUGAL, Plans, Ele- 
vations, Sections, and Views of the; with its History and Description, and an Introductory 
Discourse on GOTHIC ABCHITECTTJ RE, imperial folio, 27 fine Copper Plates, engraved 
by LowRY (pub. at 6/. 6*.), half morocco, 21. 8*. 1795 

NAPOLEON GALLERY; Or Illustrations of the Life and Times of the Emperor, with 99 
Etchings on Steel by Reveil, and other eminent Artists, in one thick volume post 8vo. (pub. 
at 1/. 1*.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, 10s. 6d. 1846 

NICOLAS'S (SIR HARRIS) HISTORY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD 

OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE; with an Account ol the Medals, Crosses, and Clasps which 
have been conferred for Naval and Military Services; together with a History of the Order of 
the Guelphs of Hanover. 4 vols, imperial 4to, splendidly printed and illustrated by numerous 
fine Woodcuts of Badges, Crosses, Collars, Stars, Medals, Bibbands, Clasps, etc. and many 
large Plates, illuminated in gold and colours, including full-length Portraits of Queen Vic- 
toria, Prince Albert, the King of Hanover, and the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex. (Pub. 
at 14/. 14s.), cloth, with morocco backs, ol. 15s. 6d. *** Complete to 1847 



— the same, with the Plates richly coloured but not illuminated, and without the 

extra portraits, 4 vols, royal 4to. cloth, 3/. 10s. 6d. 

"Sir Harris Nicolas has produced the first comprehensive History of the British Orders of 
Knighthood; and it is one of the 7nost elaborately prepared and splendidly printed works that ever 
issued from the press. The Author appears to us to have neglectea no sources of information, 
and to have exhausted them, as far as regards the general scope and purpose of the inquiry. 
The Graphical Illustrations are such as become a work of this character upon such a subject; 
at, of course, a lavish cost. The resources of the recently revived art of wood-engraving have 
been combined with the new art of printing in colours, so as to produce a rich effect, almost 
rivalling that of the monastic illuminations. Such a book is sure of a place in every great library. 
It contains matter calculated to interest extensive classes of readers, and we hope by oui 
specimen to excite their curiosity." — Quarterly Review. 

NICHOLSON'S ARCHITECTURE; ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. 218 
Plates by Lowry, new edition, revised by Jos. Gwilt, Esq., one volume, royal 8vo, 
1/. lis. Gd. 1848 

For classical Architecture, the text book of the Profession, the most useful Guide to the 
Student, and the best Compendium for the Amateur. An eminent Architect has declared 
it to be "not only the most useful book of the kind ever published, but absolutely indispen- 
sable to the Student." 

PICTORIAL HISTORY OF GERMANY DURING THE REIGN OF FREDERICK 

THE GBEAT, including a complete History of the Seven Years' War. By Francis 
Kugler. Illustrated by Adolph Mexzel. Boyal 8vo, with above 500 Woodcuts (pub. at 
1/. 8s.), cloth gilt, 12s. 1845 

PICTORIAL GALLERY OF RACE-HORSES. Containing Portraits of all the Winning 
Horses of the Derby, Oaks, and St. Leger Stakes during the last Thirteen Years, and a His- 
tory of the principal Operations of the Turf. By VVild&aks (vieo. Tattersall, Esq.). R^yal 
8vo, containing 95 beautiful Engravings of Horses, after Pictures by Cooper, Herring, 
Hancock, Alken, &c. Also full-length characteristic Portraits of celebrated living Sports- 
men ("Cracki of the Dav"), by Seymour (p«b. at 21. 2s.), scarlet cloth, gilt, 1/. 1*. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY II. G. BOIIN e 7 

PICTURESQUE TOUR OF THE RIVER THAMES, in its Western Course, including 
yaHilMr?-**. ._>■..,.■.:■. -«• i?! P hnioad, Windsor, and Hamuton Court. By John 1-ishek 
Murray. Illustrated 8/ upwaruo ^ 100 veiy highly-finished Wood Engravings by Orrjn 
Smith, Branston, Landells, Linton, sua „}i ler em i ne nt artists, to which are added 
several beautiful Copper and Steel Plate Engravings i,? Cooke and others. One Urge hand- 
some volume, royal 8vo (pub. at 11. 5*.*, gilt cloth, I'.is. 60. 1845 
The most beautiful volume of Topographical L'tgnographs ever produced. 

PINELLI'S ETCHINGS OF ITALIAN MANNERS AND COSTUME, including his 
Carnival, Banditti, &c, 27 Plates, imperial 4to, half-hound morocco, 15*. Rome, 1840 

PRICE (SIR UVEDALE) ON THE PICTURESQUE in Scenery and Landscape Garden- 
ing, with an Essay on the Origin of Taste, and much additional matter. By Sir Thomas 
Dick Lauder, Bart. 8vo, with CO beautiful Wood Engravings by Montagu Stanley 
(pub. at 11. Is.), gilt cloth, 12s. 1842 

PUGINS GLOSSARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL ORNAMENT AND COSTUME; 

setting forth the Origin, History, and Signification of the variola Emblems, Devices, and Sym- 
bolical Colours, peculiar to Christian Designs of the Middle Ages. Illustrated by nearlv 80 
Plates, splendidly printed in gold and colours. Royal 4to, half morocco extra, top edges gilt, 
11. 78. 

FUGIN'S ORNAMENTAL TIMBER GABLES, selected from Ancient Examples in 
England and Normandy. Royal 4to, 30 Plates, cloth, It. la. 1830 

PUGINS EXAMPLES OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, selected from Ancient 
Edifices in England; consisting of Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Parts at large, with Histo- 
rical and Descriptive letter-press, illustrated by 225 Engravings by Le Keux. 3 vols. 4to 
(pub. at 121. 12s.), cloth, 71. 17s. (id. 1839 

MUCIN'S GOTHIC ORNAMENTS. 90 fine Plates, drawn on Stone by J. D. Harding and 

others. Royal 4to, half morocco, 61. 3s. 1844 

-UGIN'S NEW WORK ON FLORIATED ORNAMENT, with 30 plates, splendidly 
printed in Gold and Colours, royal 4to, elegantly bound in cloth, with rich gold ornaments, 
3t. 3s. 

RADCLIFFES NOBLE SCIENCE OF FOX-HUNTING, for the use of Sportsmen, royal 
8vo., nearly 40 beautiful Wood Cuts of Hunting, Hounds, &c. (pub. at 11. 8s.), cloth gilt, 
10s. 6d. 1839 

RETZSCH'S OUTLINES TO SCHILLER'S "FIGHT WITH THE DRAGON," 

Royal 4to., containing 16 Plates, Engraved by Moses, stiff covers, 7s. 6d. 

RETZSCH'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SCHILLER'S "FRIDOLIN," Royal 4tc, contain- 
ing 8 Plates, Engraved by Moses, stiff covers, 4s. 6d. 

REYNOLDS' (SIR JOSHUA^ GRAPHIC WORKS. 300 beautiful Engravings (com- 
prising nearly 4.00 subjects) after this delightful painter, engraved on Steel by S. W. Reynolds, 
3 vols, folio (pub. at 361.), half bound morocco, gilt edges, 121. 12s. 

REYNOLDS' (SIR JOSHUA) LITERARY WORKS. Comprising his Discourses, 

delivered at the Royal Academy, on the Theory and Practice of Painting; his Journey U 
ganders and Holland, with Criticisms on Pictures; Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, with Notes 
>o which is prefixed, a Memoir of the Author, with Remarks illustrative of his Principles and 
iiactice, by Beechey. New Edition. 2 vols. fcap. 8vo, with Portrait (pub. at 18s.), gilt 
t>oth, 10s. 1846 

"His admirable Discourses contain such a body of just criticism, clothed in such perspicuous, 
elegant, and nervous language, that it is no exaggerated panegyric to assert, that they will last 
as long as the English tongue, and contribute, not less than the productions of his pencil, to 
render his name immortal." — NarthcoLe. 

ROBINSON'S RURAL ARCHITECTURE; being a Series of Designs for Ornamental 
Cottages, in 96 Plates, with Estimates. Fourth, greatly improved, Edition. Royal 4to (pub. 
at U. 4s. ), half morocco, 21. 5s. 

ROBINSON'S NEW SERIES OF ORNAMENTAL COTTAGES AND VILLUS 

56 Plates by Harding and Allom. Royal 4to, half morocco, 21. 2s. 

ROBINSON'S ORNAMENTAL VILLAS, 96 Plates (pub. at U. U.), half morocco, 21. 1$. 
ROBINSON'S FARM BUILDINGS. 56 Plates (pub. at 21. 2s.), half morocco, U. lis. td. 

ROBINSON'S LODGES AND PARK ENTRANCES. 48 Plates (pub. at 21. 2*.), half 

morocco, 11. lis. 6d. 

ROBINSON'S VILLAGE ARCHITECTURE. Fourth Edition, with additional Plate. 41 
Plates (pub at 12. 16s.), half bound uniform, 11. is. 

ROBINSON'S NEW VITRUVIUS BRITANNICUS; Or Views Plans and Elevations <M 
English Mansions, viz., Woburn Abbev, Hatfield House, and Hardwicke Hall; also Cassio- 
burv House, by John Britton, imperial folio, 50 fine engravings, by Le Keux (pub a 
16l.'\6s.) half morocco, gilt edges, 3i. 13s. 6ci. l84 ' 

ROYAL VICTORIA GALLERY, comprising 33 beautifuj Engravings, after pictures a 
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, particuarly Rembrandt, the O.stades, Testers, Gerart 
Dow, Both, Cuyt, Reynolds, Titian, and Rubens, engraved by Greatbach. S. \S 
Reynolds, Fresbury, Burnet, &c; with letter -press by Linkelx, royal 4to (pub. 3 
4/. 4s.), half ncorocco' U. 11*. &L 



8 CATALOGUE OF NEW £OOKS 



RUDING'S ANNALS OF THE COINAGE OF GREAT RRJTaim Awr» i-n» 
DEPENDENCIES. Three vols ", 4to.Tl59 plates, (pub. at 6 " h B .>-- ?J? , J / ?! N AND ffiS 

SHAKSPEARE PORTFOLIO; a Series of «« «~ a^hic Illustrations, after Designs by 
the most eminent British Artists, inrO««uing Smirke, Stothard, Stephanoff, Cooper, Westali, 
Hilton, Leslie, Briggs, Corbouid, Clint, &c, beautifully engraved by Heath, Greatbach, 
Robinson, Pye, Finden, Englehart, Armstrong, Rolls, and others (pub at 8/. 8*.), in a case, 
■with leather back, imperial 8vo, 11. Is. 

SHAW AND BRIDGENS' DESIGNS FOR FURNITURE, with Candelabra and interior 

Decoration, 60 Plates, royal 4to, (pub. at 3/. 3*.), half-bound, uncut, 1/. ll*. 6d. 1838 

The same, large paper, impl. 4to, the Plates coloured (pub. at 6/. 6s.), hf.-bd., uncut, 3/. 3*. 

SHAW'S LUTON CHAPEL, its Architecture and Ornaments, illustrated in a series of 25 
highly finished Line Engravings, imperial folio (pub. at 3/. 3$.), half moncco, uncut, U. 16*. 

■ ,r"^' . 1830 

SILVESTRE'S UNIVERSAL PALEOGRAPHY, or Facsimiles of the writings of every 

age, taken from the most authentic Missals and other interesting Manuscripts existing in the 
Libraries of France, Italy, Germany, and England. By M. Silvestre, containing upwards of 
300 large and most beautifully executed fac-similes, on Copper and Stone, most richly illumi- 
nated in the finest style of art, 2 vols, atlas folio, half morocco extra, gilt edges, 31/. 10*. 

- The Historical and Descriptive Letter-press by Champollion, Figeac, and Cham- 

pollion. jun. With additions and corrections by Sir Frederick Madden. 2 vols, royal 8vo, 
cloth, ll. 16*. 1850 

- the same, 2 vols, royal 8vo, hf. mor. gilt edges (uniform with the folio work), 21. 8*. 

SMITHS (C. J.) HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CURIOSITIES. Consisting of 
Fac-similes of iBteiesting Autographs, Scenes of remarkable Historical Events and interesting 
Localities, Engravings of Old Houses, Illuminated and Missal Ornaments, Antiquities, &c. 
&c. , containing !00 Plates, some illuminated, with occasional Letter-press. In 1 volume 4to, 
half morocco, uncut, reduced to 3/. 1340 

SMITH'S ANCIENT COSTUME OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, From 
the 7th to the 10th Century, with Historical Illustrations, folio, with 62 coloured plates illu- 
minated with gold and silver, and highly finished (pub. at 10/. 10*.) half bound, morocco, 
extra, giit edges, 3/. 13*. Gd. 

SPORTSMAN'S REPOSITORY; comprising a Series of highly finished Line Engraving*, 
representing the Horse and the Dog, in all their varieties, by the celebrated engraver Jons 
Scott, from original paintings by Reinagle, Gilpin, Stubbs, Cooper, and Landseer, accom- 
panied by a comprehensive Description by the Author of the " British Field Sports," 4to, with 
37 large Copper Plates, and numerous Wood Cuts ny Burnett and others (pub. at 2/. 12*. 6c/.), 
cloth gilt, 1/. la. 

STORERS CATHEDRAL ANTIQUITIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 4 volt. 

8vo., with 256 engravings (pub. at 71. 10*.), half morocco, 21. 12. Sd. 

STOTHARD'S MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES OF GREAT BRITAIN 147 beautifully 
finished Etchings, all of which are more or less tinted, and some ot them highly illuminated in 
gold and colours, with Historical Descriptions and Introduction, by Kempe. Folio (pub. at 
19/.), half morocco, Si. 8s. 

STRUTT'S SYLVA BRITANMICA ET S^OTICA ; or, Portraits of Forest Trees, distin- 
guished for their Antiquity, Magnitude, or Beauty, comprising 50 very large and highly-finished 
painters' Etchings, imperial folio (pub. at 9/. 9s.) , half morocco extra, gilt edges, "4/. 10*. 

182G 

STRUTT'S DRESSES AND HABITS OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, from 
the Establishment of the Saxons in Britain to the present time; with an historical and 
Critical Inquiry into every branch of Costume. New and greatly improved Edition, with Cri- 
tical and Explanatory Notes, by J. R. Plasche', Esq., F.S.A. 2 vols, royal 4to, i:>3 Plates, 
cloth, 4/. 4*. The Plates, coloured, 71. 7*. The Plates splendidly illuminated in gold, silver, 
and opaque colours, in the Missal style, 20c. 1842 

STRUTT'S REGAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES OF ENGLAND- 

Containing the most authentic Representations of all the English Monarchs from Edward the 
Confessor to Henry the Eighth; together with many of the Great Personages that were emi- 
nent under their several Reigns. New and greatly improved Edition, by J. R. Planch ii' 
Esq., F.S.A. Royal 4to, 72 Plates, cloth, 21. 2s. The Plates coloured, 4/. is. Splendidly 
illuminated, uniform with the Dresses, 12/. 12*. 1842 

STUBBS' ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 24 fine large Copper-plate Engravings. Impe- 
rial folio (pub. at 4/. 4*.), boards, leather back, 1/. 11*. 6d, 

The original edition of this fine old woik, which is indispensable to artists. It has long been 
considered rare. 

TATTERSALL'S SPORTING ARCHITECTURE, comprising the Stud Farm, the Stall, 
the Stable, the Kennel, Race Studs, &c. with 43 beautiful steel and wood illustrates, several 
after Hancock, cloth gilt (pub. at 1/. 11*. Gd.) f 1/. 1*. 1850 

TAYLORS HISTORY OF THE FINE ARTS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 2 vols, post 

8vo. Woodcuts (pub. at 1/. 1*.), cloth, 7*. 6tf. Ig^j 

"The best view of the state of modern art."— United States' Gazette. 

TOD'S ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF RAJASTHAN: OR, THE CENTRAL 

AND WESTERN RAJPOOT STATES OF INDIA, COMMONLY CALLED RAJPOOT- 
ANA). By Lieut. ColonelJ. Ton, imperial -Ito. embellished with above 28 extremely beauti- 
ful line Engravings by Fikdsp, and capital large folding map (4/. 14«. 6c/.), cloth, 25*. 183t 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. 4k &OHN. 



TURNER AND GIRTIN'S RIVER SCENERY; folio, 20 beautiful enpravings on steel, 
after the drawings of J. M. W. Turner, brilliant impressions, in a portfolio, with morocco 
back (pub. at bi. os.}, reduced to 1/. 11$. 6d. 



the same, with thick glazed paper between the plates, half bound morocco, gilt 

edges (pub. at §1. 6s. }, reduced to 21. 2s. 

WALKER'S ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. Preceded by a critical View of the 
general Hypotheses respecting Beauty, by Leonardo da Vixci, Mesgs, Wimckeluakk. 
Hume, Hogarth, Bcrke, Knight, Alisox, and others. New Edition, royal 8vo, illus- 
trated by 22 beautiful Plates, after drawings from life, by H. Howard, by Gau ci and Lank 
(pub. at 21. 2s.), gilt cloth, 1/. 1*. 1S4S 

WALPOLE'S (HORACE) ANECDOTES OF PAINTING IN ENGLAND, with some 

Account of the Principal Artists, and Catalogue of Engravers, who have been horn or resided 
in England, with Notes by Dauaway; New Edition, Revised and Enlarged, by Ralph 
"Wornum, Esq., complete in 3 vols. 8vo, with numerous beautiful portraits and plates', 21. 2s. 

WATTS'S PSALMS AN£> HYMNS, Illustrated Edition, complete, with indexes of 
" Subjects," " First Lines," and a Table of Scriptures, 8vo, printed in a very large and beauti- 
ful type, /embellished with 21 beautiful Wood Ctts by Martin, Westall, and others (pub. at 
1/. Is.), giit cloth, 7*. 5u. 

WHISTON'S JOSEPHUS, ILLUSTRATED EDITION, complete; containing both the 
Antiquities and the Wars of the Jews. 2 vols. 8vo, handsomely printed, embellished wifh 12 
beautiful Wood Engravings, by various Artists (pub. at 11. is.), cloth bds., elegantly gilt," 14*. 

* 1845 

WHITTOCK'S DECORATIVE PAINTER'S AND GLAZIER'S GUIDE, containing the 
most approved methods of imitating every kind of fancy Wood and Marble, in Oil or Distemper 
Colour, Designs for Decorating Apartments, and the Art of Staining and Painting on Glass, 
&c, with Examples from Ancient Windows, with the Supplement, 4to, illustrated with 10* 
plates, of which 44 are coloured, (pub. at 21. lis.) cloth, 1/. 10«. 

WHITTOCK'S MINIATURE PAINTER'S MANUAL. Foolscap 8vo., 7 coloured plates, 
and numerous woodcuts (pub. at 5s.) cloth, 3s. 

WIGHTWICK'S PALACE OF ARCHITECTURE, a Romance of Art and History. Impe- 
rial 8vo, with 211 Illustrations, Steel Plates, and Woodcuts (pub. at 21. 12*. 6d.) , cloth, 11. Is. 

1840 

WILD'S ARCHITECTURAL GRANDEUR of Belgium, Germany, and France, 24 fine 
Plates by Le Keux, &c. Imperial 4to (pub. at 1/. 15s.), half morocco, 1/. 4s. 1837 

WILD'S FOREIGN CATHEDRALS, 12 Plates, coloured and/mounted like Drawings, in a 
handsome portfolio (pub. at 121. 12s.), imperial folio, bl. bs. -~^ 

WILLIAMS' VIEWS IN GREECE, 64 beautiful Line Engravings by Miller, Korsrvrgh, 
and others. 2 vols, imperial 8vo (pub. at 61. 6s.), half bound nvor. extra, gilt edges, 21. 12s. 6d. 

jp 1829 

WINDSOR CASTLE AND ITS ENVIRONS, INCLUDING ETON, by Leitck 
Reitchie, new edition, edited by E. Jesse, Esq., illustrated with upwards of 60 beautiful 
Engravings on Steel and Wood, royal 8vo., gilt cloth, 15* x ' 

WOOD'S ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES AND RUINS OF PALMYRA AND 
BALBEC. 2 vols, in I, imperial folio, containing 110 fine Copper-plate Engravings, some 
vary large and folding (pub. at 71. 7s.), half morocco, uncut, 31. 13s. 6d. 1827 



i&iitural f^tstorg, Agriculture, §a. 

a 

ANDREWS' FIGURES OF HEATHS, with Scientific Descriptions. 6 vols, royal 8vo, 
with 300 beautifully coloured Plates (pub. at Ul.)', cloth, gilt, 71. 10s. 1845 

BARTON AND CASTLE'S BRITISH FLORA MEDICA; OR, HISTORY OF THR 
MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 2 vols. 8vo, illustrated by upwards of 2oo 
Coloured Figures of Plants (pub. at 3/. 3s.), cloth, 1/. 16s. 1845 

BAUER AND HOOKERS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE GENERA OF FERNS, 

in which the characters of eaci. Genus are displayed in the mcst elaborate manner, in a series 
of magnified Dissections and Figures, highly finished in Colours. Imp. 8vo, Plates, 6*. 1S38-43 

BEECHEY. — BOTANY OF CAPTAIN BEECHEY'S VOYAGE, comprising an 

Account of the Plants collected by Messrs. Lay and Coolie, and other Officers of the 
Expedition, during the Voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits. By Sir William 
Jackson- Hooker, and O'. A. W. Arxott, Esq., illustrated by 100 Plates, beautimllv en- 
graved, complete in 10 parts, 4to (pub. at 71. 10s.), bl. 1831-41 

BEECHEY— ZOOLOGY OF CAPTAIN BEECHEY'S VOYAGE, compiled from the 
Collections and Notes of Captain Beechey and tlie Scientific Gentlemen who accompanied 
the Expedition. The Mammalia, by Dl MAiardsox ; Ornithology, by N. A. Vigors, Esq., 
Fishes, by G. T. Lay, Esq., and E.j^.ilpr.xxETT, Esq.; Crustacea, by Richard Owek; 
Esq.; Reptiles, by Joilv Edward Gray', lsq.: Sh?lls, by W. Sowerby,*Esq.: and Geology, 
by the Rev. Dr. Bucxlaxd. 4tc ; illustrated by 47 Plates, containing many hundred Figures, 
beautifully co?cured by Sowerby (pub. atSi. bi.), doth, 3/. 13*. Gci. ~ 1W9 



10 CATALOGUE OF »EW BOOKS 



BOLTON'S NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SONG BIRDS, niustrated with 

Figures, the size of Life, of the Birds, both Male and Female, in their most Natural Attitudes; 
their Nests and Eggs, Food, Favourite Plants, Shrubs, Trees, &c. &c. New Edition, revised 
and very considerably augmented. 2 vols, in 1, medium 4to, containing 80 beautifully coloured 
plates (pub. at 8/. 8s. ), half bound morocco, gilt backs, gilt edges, 3/. 3s. 1845 

BRITISH FLORIST, OR LADY'S JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE. 6 vols. 8vo, 81 
coloured plates of flowers and groups (pub. at 4/. 10s.), cloth, 1/. 14s. 1846 

BROWNS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAND AND FRESH WATER SHELLS 
OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND; with Figures, Descriptions, and Localities of all 
the Species. Royal 8vo, containing on 27 large Plates, 330 Figures of all the known British 
Species, in their full size, accurately drawn from Nature (pub. at 15s.), cloth, 10s. 6d. 1845 

CURTISS FLORA LONDINENSIS; Revised and Improved by George Graves, ex- 
tended and continued by Sir W. Jackson Hooker; comprising the History of Plants indi- 
genous to Great Britain, with Indexes; the Drawings made by Sydenham, Edwards, and 
Likdley. 5 vols, royal folio (or 109 parts), containing 647 Plates, exhibiting the full natural 
size of each Plant, with magnified Dissections of the Parts of Fructification, &c, all beauti- 
fully coloured (pub. at 87/. 4s. in parts), half bound morocco, top edges gilt, 304. 1835 

DENNY— MONOGRAPHIA ANOPLURORUM BRITANNI/E, OR BRITISH 
SPECIES OF PARASITE INSECTS (published under the patronage of the British Associa- 
tion), 8vo, numerous beautifuilj coloured plates of Lice, containing several hundred magnified 
figures, cloth, \L 11?. 6d. 1842 

DONS GENERAL SYSTEM OF GARDENING AND BOTANY. 4 volumes, royal 4to, 
numerous woodcuts (pub. at 14/. 8s.), cloth, 1/. lis. 6c/. 1831-1838 

DCN'S HORTUS CANTABRIGIENSIS; thirteenth Edition, 8vo (pub. at 11. 4*.), cloth, 12s. 

1845 

DONOVANS NATURAL HISTORY OF THE INSECTS OF INDIA. Enlarged, by 
J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S., 4to, with 58 plates, containing upwards of 120 exquisitely 
coloured figures (pub. at 6/. 6s.), cloth, gilt, reduced to 21. 2s. 1842 

DONOVANS NATURAL HISTORY OF THE INSECTS OF CHINA. Enlarged, by 
J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S., 4to, with 50 plates, containing upwards of 120 exquisitely 
coloured figures (pub. at 6/. 6s.), cloth, gilt, 21. 5s. 

M Donovan's works on the Insects of India and China are splendidly illustrated and ex- 
tremely useful." — Naturalist. 

♦•The entomological plates of our countryman Donovan, are highly coloured, elegant, and 
useful, especially those contained in his quarto volumes ( Insects of India and China), where a 
great number of species are delineated for the first time." — Swainson. 

DONOVAN'S WORKS ON BRITISH NATURAL HISTORY. Viz.-Insects, 16 vols, 
—Birds, 10 vols.— Shells, 5 vols.— Fishes, 5 vols.— Quadrupeds, 3 vols.— together 39 vols. 8vo. 
containing 1198 beautifully coloured plates (pub. at 66/. 9s.), boards, 23/. 17s. The same set of 
39 vols, hound in 21 (pub. at 73/. 10s.), half green morocco extra, gilt edges, gilt backs, 30/. 
Any of the classes may be had separately. 

DOYLE'S CYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HUSBANDRY, and Rural Affairs in 
General, New Edition, Enlarged, thick 8vo., with 70 wood engravings (pub. at 13s.), cloth, 
8s. G<i. 1843 

DRURY'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF FOREIGN ENTOMOLOGY; wherein are exhibited 
upwards of 600 exotic Insects, of the East and West Indies, China, New Holland, North and 
South America, Germany, &c. By J. O. Westwoo », Esq., F.L.S. Secretary of the Entomo- 
logical Society, &c. 3 vols, 4to, 150 Plates, most beautifully coloured, containing above 600 
figures of Insects (originally pub. at 15/. 15s.), half bound morocco, 6/. 16s. 6d. 1837 

EVELYN'S SYLVA AND TERRA. A Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of 
Timber, a Philosophical Discourse of the Earth; with Life of the Author, and Notes by Dr. A. 
Hunter, 2 vols, royal 4to. Fifth improved Edition, with 46 Plates (prb. art 5/. 5s.), cloth, 21. 

1825 

FiTZROY AND DARWIN— ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE IN THE BEAGLE. 

166 plates, mostly coloured, 3 vols, royal 4to. (pub. at 9/.), cloth, 5/. 5s. 1838-43 

GREVILLES CRYPTOGAMIC FLORA, comprising the Principal Species found in Great 
Britain, inclusive of all the New Species recency discovered in Scotland. 6 vols, royal 8vo, 
360 beautifully coloured Plates (pub. at 16/. 16s.), half morocco, 8/. 8s. lt>23-8 

This, thousrh a complete Work in itself, forms an almost Indispensable Supplement to the 
thirtv-six volumes of Sowerby's English Botany, which does not comprehend Cryptngamous 
Plants. It is one of the most scientific and best executed works on Indigenous Botany ever 
produced in this country. 

HARDWICKE AND GRAY'S INDIAN ZOOLOGY. Twenty carta, forming two vols., 
loyal folio, 202 coloured plates (pub. at 21/.), sewed, 12/. 12s., or half moroccu, gilt edges, 
14/. 14s. 

HARRIS'S AURF.LIAN; OR ENGLISH MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES, Their 
Natural History, together with the Plants on which they feed; New and greatly improved 
Edition, by J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S., Sc, in 1 vol. sm. folio, with 44 plates, containing 
ah.>\e 4i)o figures of Moths, Butterflies, Caterpillars, Src, and the Plants on which they feed, 
exquisitely colouKu «»fter t**e original drawings, half-bound morocco, 4/. 4s. 1840 

This extrem»U beautiful work is the onlv one which contains our English Moths and Butter- 
flies ol the full natural sixe, in all their changes of Caterpillar, Chrysalis, fcc, with the plant! 
ca which they fee*** 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 11 



HOOKtR AND GREVILLE, rCONES FILICUM ; OR. FIGURES OF FERNS 

With DESCRIPTIONS, many of which have been altogether unnuticed by Botanists, cr have 

not been correctly figured. 2 vols, folio, with 240 beautifully coloured Plates (pub. at 25/. 4*.), 

half morocco, gilt edges, 12/. 12*. 1829-31 

The grandest and most valuable of the many scientific Works produced by Sir William Hooker. 

HOOKER'S EXOTIC FLORA, containing Figures and Descriptions of Rnre, or otherwise 
interesting Exotic Plants, especially of such as are deserving- of being cultivated in our Gar- 
dens. 3 vols, impeiial 8vo, containing 232 large and beautifully coloured Piates (pub. at 15/.), 
cloth, 6*'. 6s. 1823-1827 

This is the most superb and attractive of all Dr. Hooker's valuahle works. 

"The 'Exotic Flora,' by Dr. Hooker, is like that of all the Botanical publications of the in- 
defatigable author, excellent; and it assumes an appearance of finish and perfection to 
which neither the Botanical Magazine nor Register can externally lay claim."— Loudon. 

HOOKER'S JOURNAL OF BOTANY; containing Figures and Descriptions of such Plants 

t.s recommend themselves by their novelty, rarity, or history, or by the uses to which they are 
applied in the Arts, in Medicine, and in Domestic Economy; together with occasional 
Botanical Notices and Information, and occasional Portraits and Memoirs of eminent 
Botanists. 4 vols. 8vo, numerous plates, some coloured (pub. at 3/.), cloth, 1/. 1834-42 

HOOKER'S BOTANICAL MiSCELLANY; containing Figures and Descriptions of Plants 
which recommend themselves by their novelty, rarity, or history, or by the uses to which they 
are applied in the Arts, in Medicine, and in Domestic Economy, together with occasional 
Botanical Notices and Information, including many valuable Communications from distin- 
guished Scientific Travellers. Complete in 3 thick vols, royai 8vo, with 153 piates, many finely 
coloured (pub. at U. 5s.), gilt cloth, 21. 12*. 6d. 1830-33 

HOOKER'S FLORA BOREALI-AMERICANA ; OR, THE BOTANY OF BRITISH 

NORTH AMERICA. Illustrated by 240 plates, complete in Twelve Parts, royal 4to, (pub. 
at 121. 12«.), 8/. The Twelve Parts complete, done up in 2 vols, royal 4to, extra cloth, 8/. 

1829-40 

HUISH ON BEES; THEIR NATURAL HISTORY AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 

New and greatly improved Edition, containing also the latesl Discoveries and Improvement* 
in every department of the Apiary, with a description of the most approved Hives now in use, 
thick 12mo, Portrait and numerous Woodcuts (pub. at 10*. 6c/.), cloth, gilt, 6*. Gd. lt>44 

JOHNSON'S GARDENER, complete in 12 vols, with numerous woodcuts, containing the 
Potato, one vol.— Cucumber, one vol.— Grape Vine, two vols.— Auricula and Asparagus, one 
vol.— Pine Apple, two vols.— Strawberry, one vol. — Dahlia, one vol.— Peach, one vol.— Apple, 
two vols. — together 12 vols. 12mo, woodcuts (pun. at U. 10*.), cloth, 12*. 1847 

■ either of the volumes may be had separately (pub. at 2a. 6d. ), at 1*. 

JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY OF MODERN GARDENING, numerous Woodcuts, very 
thick 12mo, cloth lettered (pub. at 10s. 6c/.), 4s. A comprehensive and elegant volume. 1846 

LATHAM'S GENERAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. Being the Natural History and Descrip- 
tion of all the Birds (above four thousand) hitherto known or described by Naturalists, with 
the Synonymes i»f preceding Writers; the second enlarged and improved Edition, compre- 
hending all the discoveries in Ornithology subsequent to the former publication, and a Gerreral 
Index, 11 vols, in W, 4to, with upwards of 200 coloured Plates, lettered (pub. at 26/. 8*.), cloth, 
11. 17*. 6d. Winchester, 1821-28. The same with the plates exquisitely coloured like drawings, 
II vols, in 10, elegantly half bound, green morocco, gilt edges, 12/. 12*. 

TWIN'S NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BIRDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 

Third Edition, with an Index of the Scientific Names and Synonymes by Mr. Gould and Mr. 
Eyton, folio, 27 plates, coloured (pub. at 4/. 4s.), hi. bd. morocco, 2/. 2*. 1838 

LINDLEY'S BRITISH FRUITS; OR, FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MOST 
IMPORTANT VARIETIES OF FRUIT CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 3 vols, 
royal 8vo, containing 152 most beautifully coloured plates, chiefly by Mrs. Withers, Artist 
to the Horticultural Society (pub. at 10/. 10*.), half bound, morocco extra, gilt edges, 5/. 5*. 

1841 
♦'Tins is an exquisitely beautiful work. Every plate is like a "highly finished drawing, 
similar to those in the Horticultural Transactions." 

LINDLEY'S DIGITALIUM MONOGRAPHIA. Folio, 28 plates of the Foxglove (pub, at 

4/. 4*.), cloth, 1/. 11*. 6rf. 

— the same, the plates beautifully coloured (pub. at 61. 6*.), cloth, 21. 12*. 6d. 

LOUDONS (MRS.) ENTERTAINING NATURALIST, being Popular Descriptor*, 

Tales, and Anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals, comprehending all the Quadrupeds, 
Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, &c. of which a knowledge is indispensable in polite educa- 
tion. With Indexes of Scientific ai 1 Popular Names, an Explaration of Terms, and an Ap- 
pendix of Fabulous Animals, illustrated by upwards of 500 beautiful woodcuts by Bewick, 
Harvey, Whimper, and others. New Edition, revised, enlarged, and corrected to the 
present state of Zoological Knowledge. In one thick vol. post 8vo. gilt cloth, 7*. 6c/. \&$Q 

LOUDON'S (J. C.) AR30RETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM, or the 

Trees and Shrubs of Britain. Native and Foreign, delineated and described; with their propa- 
gation, culture, manasement, and uses. Second improved Edition, 8 vols. 8vo, with above 
400 plates of trees, and upwards of 2500 woodcut* of trees and shrubs (pub. at 10/.), 5/. 6*. 1944 



12 CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 

fVSANTELL'S (DR.) NEW GEOLOGICAL WORK. THE MEDALS OF CREATION 

or First Lessons in Geology, and in the Study of Oriranic Remains; including Geological Ex" 
cursions to the Is.?e of Sheppey, Brighton, Lewes, Tilgate Forest, Charnwood Forest, Farring" 
don, Swindon, Calne, Bath, Bristol, Clifton, Matlock, Crich Kill, &c. By Gideon Alger- 
non Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. Two thick vols, foolscap 8vo, with coloured 
Plates, and several hundred beautiful "Woodcuts of Fossil Remains, cloth gilt, \L Is. 1844 

MANTELLS WONDERS OF GEOLOGY, or a Familiar Exposition of Geological Phe- 
nomena. Sixth greatly enlarged and improved Edition. 2 vols, post 8vo, coloured Plates, and 
upwards of 200 Woodcuts, gilt cloth, 18s. 1848 

MANTELLS GEOLOGICAL EXCURSION ROUND THE ISLE OF WIGHT, 

and along the adjacent Coast of Dorsetshire. In, I vol. post Svo, with numerous beautifully 
executed Woodcuts, and a Geological Map, cloth gilt, 12s. 184T 

MUDIES NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH BiRDS; OR, THE FEATHERED 
TRIBES CF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 2 vols. 8vo. New Edition, the Plates beauti- 
fully coloured (pub. at 1/. 8s.), cloth gilt, 16a. 1835 
"This is, without any exception, the most truly charming work on Ornithology which has* 
hitherto appeared, from the days of Willoughhy downwards. Other authors describe,; 
Mudie paints; other authors give the husk, Mudie the kernel. We most heartily concur 
with the opinion expressed of this work by Leigh Hunt (a kindred spirit) in the first few 
numbers of his right pleasant London Journal. The descriptions of Bewick, Pennant,' 
Lewin, Montagu, and even Wilson, will not for an instant stand comparison with the 
spirit-stirring emanations of Mudie's 'living pen,' as it has been called. We are not ac- 
quainted with any author who so felicitously unites beauty of style with strength and nerve 
of expression ; he does not specify, but paints." — Wood's Ornithological Guide. 

RICHARDSON S GEOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS, comprising a familiar Explanation of 
Geology and its associate Sciences, Mineralogy, Physical Geology, Fossil Conchology, Fossil 
Botany", and Palaeontology, including Directions for forming Collections, &c. By G. F. 
Richardson, F.G.S. (formerly with Dr. Mantell, now of the British Museum). Second 
Edition, considerably enlarged and improved. One thick vol. post 8vo, illustrated by upwards 
of 260 Woodcuts (pub. at 10s. 6d.), clcth, 7s. Gd. 1846 

SELBY'S COMPLETE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY. A most magnificent work of the 
Figures of British Birds, containing exact and faithful representations in their full natural size, 
of all the known species found in Great Britain, 383 Figures in 228 beautifully coloured Plates. 
2 vols, elephant folio, elegantly half bound morocco (pub. at 105/.), gilt back and gilt edges, 
31/. 10s. 1834 

"The grandest work on Ornithology published in this country, the same for British Birds 
that Audubon's is for the birds of America. Every figure, excepting in a very few instances of 
extremely large birds, Is of the full natural size, beautifully and accurately drawn, with all the 
spirit of life."— Ornithologist's Text Book. 

"What a treasure, during a rainy forenoon in the country, is such a gloriously illuminated 
work as this of Mr. Selby ! It is, without doubt, the most splendid of the kind ever published 
in Britain, and will stand a comparison, without any eclipse of its lustre, with the most magni- 
ficent ornithological illustrations of the French school. Mr. Selby has long and deservedly 
ranked high as a scientific naturalist." — Blackwood's Magazine. 

SELBYS ILLUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY. 2 vols. 8vo. Second 
Edition (pub. at 11. Is.), boards, 12*. 1833 

SIBTHORP'S FLORA GR/ECA. The most costly and magnificent Botanical work ever pub- 
lished. 10 vols, folio, with 1000 beautifully coloured Plates, half bound morocco, publishing 
by subscription, and the number strictly limited to those subscribed for (pub. at 252/.), 63/. 

Separate Prospectuses of this work are now ready for delivery. Only forty copies of the 
original stock exist. No greater number of subscribers' names can therefore be received. 

SIBTHORPS FLOR/E GR/EC/E PRODROMUS. Siye Plantarum omnium Enumeratio, 
quas in Provinciis aut Insulis Gracise invenit Joh. Sibthorp: Characteres et Synonyma 
omnium cum Annotationibus Jac. EdyI Smith. Four parts, in 2 thick vols, 8vo* (pub. at 
21. 2s.), Us. Londini, 181G 

SOWERBY'S MANUAL OF CONCHOLOGY. Containing a complete Introduction to the 
Science, illustrated by upwards of 650 Figures of Shells, etched on copper-plates, in which the 
most characteristic examples are given of all the Genera established up to the present time,, 
arranged in Lamarckian Order, accompanied by copious Explanations; Observations respect- 
ing the Geographical or Geological distribution of each; Tabular Views of the Systems of 
Lamarck and De Blainville; a Glossary of Technical Terms, &c. New Edition, considerably 
enlarged and improved, with numerous Woodcuts in the text, now first added, Svo, cloth, 18s. 
The plates coloured, cloth, 1/. 16s. 1846 

SOWERBY'S CONCHOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS; OR, COLOURED FIGURES 
OF ALT, THE HITHERTO UNFIGURED SHELLS, complete in 300 Shells, 8vo, compris- 
ing neveral thousand Figures, in parts, all beautifully coloured (pub. at 15/.), 71. 10s. 1845 

SPRYS BRITISH COLEOPTERA DELINEATED; containing Figures and Descriptions 
of all the Genera of British Beetles, edited by Shuck arii, Bvo, with 94 plates, comprising 688 
figures of Beetles, beautifully and mo3t accurately drawn (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, 1/. 1*. 1840 
" The most perfect work vet published in this department of Britisli Entomology." 

STEPHENS' BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY, 12 vols. 8vo, loo coloured Plates (pub. at 21/.),' 
half bound, 8/. 8s. 1828-46 

——Or sepaiately, Lepidoptera, 4 vols. 4/. 4s. Coi.eoptera, 5 vols. 4/. is. Dermaptera., 
Orthop., Neurop , &o | I vol 11 u UvutnonsRA, 2 vols. 2/. to. 



PUBLISHED OK SOLD BY H. G. BOHK. 13 



SWAINSON'S EXOTiC CONCHOLOGY; OR, FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF 
RARE, BEAUTIFUL, OR UNDESCRiJJED SHELLS. Royal 4to, containing <j4 large and 
beautifully coloured figures of Shells, half bound mcr, gilt edges {pub. at bL 5s), 2L°. 12s. (id. 

SWAINSON'S ZOOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS J OR, ORIGINAL FIGURES AND 
DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW, RARE, OR INTERESTING ANIMALS, selected chiefly 
from the Classes of Ornithology, Entomology, and Conchology. 6 vols, royal 8vo, containing 
318 finely coloured plates f pub. at 16/. lGs.), half bound morocco, gilt edges, 91. 9*. 

SWEET'S FLORA AUSTRALASICA; or. a SELECTION OF HANDSOME OR 
CURIOUS PLANTS, Natives of New Holland and the South Sea Islands. 15 Nos. for ring 
1 vol. royal 8vo, complete, with 56 beautifully coloured, plates (pub. at 3i. 15s.), cloth, 1/. 1G*. 

1827-28 

SWEET'S CISTINE/E; OR, NATURAL ORDER OF CISTUS, OR ROCK ROSE. 30 
Nos. forming 1 vol. royal 8vo, complete, with 112 beautifully coloured plates (pub. at bL 5s.), 
cloth, 21. 12*. &d. 1828 

" One of the most interesting, and hitherto the scarcest of Mr. Sweet's beautiful publications." 



Jilt'scdlancous (Bngltslj ^Literature, 



INCLUDING 



HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, POETRY AND THE 
DRAMA, MORALS, AND MISCELLANIES. 



BACON'S WORKS, both English and Latin. With an Introductory Essay, and copious 
Indexes. Complete in 2 large vols, imperial 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 21. 25.), cloth, 1/. 16*. 1838 

BACON'S ESSAYS AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, with Memoir and Notes 
by Dr. Taylor, square 12mo, with 34 Woodcuts (pub. at is.), ornamental wrapper, 2s. 6d. 

1840 

BANCROFT'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, from the Discovery of the 
American Continent. Twelfth Edition, 3 vols, 8vo (published at 21. 10*.), cloth, 11. 11*. 6d. 

1847 

BATTLES OF THE BRITISH NAVY, from a.d. looo to 1840. By Joseph Allen, of 

Greenwich Hospital. 2 thick elegantly printed vols, foolscap 8vo, illustrated by 24 Portraits 
of British Admirals, beautifully engraved on Steel, and numerous Woodcuts of Battles (pub. 
at 1/. 1*.), cloth gilt, 145. 1842 

"These volumes are invaluable; they contain the very pith and marrow of our best Naval 
Histories and Chronicles."— Sun. 

"The best and most complete repository of the triumphs of the British Navy which has yet 
issued from the press." — United Service Gazette. 

BORDERER'S, THE TABLE BOOK, or Gatherings of the Local History and Romance of 

the English and Scottish Bordtrs, by M. A. Richardson (of Newcastle), 8 vols, bound in 4, 

royal 8vo, Illustrated with nearly 1000 interesting Woodcuts, extra cloth (pub. at 3/. 10*.), 

1/. 11*. Xewcastle, 1846 

*** One of the cheapest and most attractive sets of books imaginable. 

BOSWELLS LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON; BY THE RIGHT HON. J. C. CROKER, 

Incorporating his Tour to the Hebrides, and accompanied by the Commentaries of all pre- 
ceding Editors: with numerous additional Notes and Illustrative Anecdotes; to which are 
added Two Supplementary Volumes of Anecdotes by Hawkins, Piozzi, Murphy, Tyers, 
Reynolds, Steevexs, and others. 10 vols. 12mo, illustrated by upwards of 50 Views, Por- 
traits, and Sheets of Autographs, finely eng^ed on Steel, from Drawings by Stanfield, Hard- 
ing, &C, cloth, reduced to 1/. 10*. 1848 
This new, improved, and greatly enlarged edition, beautifully printed in the popular form ot 
Sir Waiter Scott, and Byron's Works, is just sucli an edition as Dr. Johnson himseif loved and 
recommcmied. In one "of the Ana recorded in the supplementary volumes of the present edi- 
tion, he says : " Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the 
most useful after all. Such books form the mass oi general and easy reading." 

BOURRIENNE'S MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON, one stout, closely, but elegantly printed 
vol., foolscap 12mo, with fine equestrian Portrait of Napoleon and Fiontispiece (pub. at 5s.), 
Cloth, 3*. Od. 1814 

BRiTISH ESSAYISTS, viz., Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, Rambler, Adventurer, Idler, and 
Cotuioiseur, 3 thick vols. 8vo, portraits (pub. at 21. 5*.), cloth, 1/. 7*. Either volume may be 
had separate. 

BRiTISH POETS, CABINET EDITION, containing the complete works of the principal 
English poets, irom Milton to Kiike White. 4 vols, post 8vo (size of Standard Library) 
printed in a very small but beautii'w'. tute, n Medallion Portraits (pub. at 2t. a*.), cloth, 15*. 



14 CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 

BROUGHAM'S (LORD) POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, and Essay on the British Constitu- 
tion, 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at If. 11*. 6a'.), cloth, If. 1*. 1344-$ 
- British Constitution (a portion of the preceding work), 8vo. cloth, 3*. 

BKOUGHAM'S (LORD) HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF STATESMEN, and otbei 
Public Characters of tbe time of George I IT. Vol. III. royal 8vo, with 10 fine portrait* 
(pub. at U. Is.), cloth, 10*. 6<i. 1816 

BROUGHAM'S (LORD) LIVES OF MEN OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE, Who 

nourished in the time of George III, royal 8vo, with 10 fine portraits (pub. at U. 1*.), cloth, 12*. 

Ls45 

*— the same, also with the portraits, demy 8vo (pub. at 11. Is.), cloth, 10*. Gd. 1846 

BROWNE'S (SIR THOMAS) WORKS, COMPLETE, including his Vulgar Errors, 
Religio Medici, Urn Burial, Christian Morals, Correspondence, Journals, and Tracts, many of 
Ihem hitherto unpublished. The whole collected and edited by Simon Wilkin, F.L.S. 4 
vols. 8vo, fine Portrait (pub. at 21. 8a.), cloth, 1/. 11*. Gd. Pickering, 1836 

M Sir Thomas Browne, the contemporary of Jeremy Taylor, Hooke, Bacon, Selden, and 
Robert Burton, is undoubtedly one of tl* most eloquent and poetical o f that great literary era 
His thoughts are often truly sublime, and always conveyed in the most impressive language.' 
—Chamber*. 

BUCKINGHAM'S AMERICA; HISTORICAL, STATISTICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE, 
viz.: Northern States, 3 vols.; p^astern and Western States, 3 vols.; Southern or Slave States, 
2 vols.; Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the other British Provinces in North 
America, 1 vol. Together 9 stout vols. 8vo, numerous fine Engravings (pub. at 6^. 10*. 6d.), 
Cloth, 21. 12*. 6d. 1841-43 

_ "Mr. Buckingham goes deliberately through the States, treating of all, historically and sta- 
tistically — of their rise and progress, their manufactures, trade, population, topography, fer- 
tility, resources, morals, manners, education, and so forth. His volumes ivill be found a store- 

hoy-se of knowledge." Athenaeum. 

"A very entire and comprehensive view of the United States, diligently collected by a maa 
of great acuteness and observation." — Literary Gazette. 

BURKE'S (EDMUND) WORKS. With a Biographical and Critical Introduction by Rogers. 
2 vols, imperial 8vo, closely but handsomely printed (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, 11. 10*. 184J 

BURKE'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERALDRY: OR, GENERAL ARMOURY 

OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND. Comprising a Registry of all Armorial 
Bearings, Crests, and Mottoes, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, including the 
late Grants by the College of Arms. With an Introduction to Heraldry, and a Dictionary of 
Terms. Third Edition, with a Supplement. One very large vol. imperial 8vo, beautifully 
printed in small type, in double columns, by Whittikgham, embellished with an elaborate 
Frontispiece, richly illuminated in gold and colours; also Woodcuts (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth 
gilt, If. 5*. 1844 

The most elaborate and useful Work of the kind ever published. It contains upwards of 
30,000 armorial bearings, and incorporates all that have hitherto been given by Guillim, Ed- 
mondson, Collins, Nisbet, Berry, Robson, and others; besides many thousand names which 
have never appeared in any previous Work. This volume, in fact, in a small compass, but 
without abridgment, contains more than four ordinary quartos. 

BURNS' WORKS, WITH LIFE BY ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, AND NOTES BY 

SIR WALTER SCOTT, CAMPBELL, WORDSWORTH, LOCKHART, &c. Royal 8vo, 
fine Portrait and Plates (pub. at IS*.), cloth, uniform with Byron, 10*. 6d. 1842 

This is positively the only complete edition of Burns, in a single volume, Svo. It contains 
not only every scrap which Burns ever wrote, whether prose or verse, but also a considerable 
number of Scotch national airs, collected arid illustrated by him (not given elsewhere) and full 
and interesting accounts of the occasions and circumstances of his various writings. The 
very complete and interesting Life by Allan Cunningham alone occupies 164 pages, and the 
Indices and Glossary are very copious. The whole forms a thick elegantly printed volume, 
extending in all to 848 pages. The other editions, including one published in similar shape, 
with an abridgment of the Life by Allan Cunningham, comprised in only 47 pages, and the 
whole volume in only 504 pages, do not contain above two-thirds of the above. 

CAMPBELL'S LIFE AND TIMES OF PETRARCH. With Notices of Boccaccio and hi. 
Illustrious Contemporaries. Second Edition. 2 vols. 8vo, fine Portraits and Plates (pub. at 
1/. 11*. 6d.), cloth, 12*. 1844 

CARY'S EARLY FRENCH POETS, a Series of Notices and Translations, with an Intro- 
ductory Sketch of the History of French Poetry ; Edited by his Son, the Rev. Hkkry Cart. 
foolscap, 8vo, cloth, 5s. 1816 

CARYS LIVES OF ENGLISH POETS, supplementary to Dr. Johnson's "Lives." 
Edited fey his Son, foolscap Svo, cloth, 7*. M*i" 

CHATHAM PAPERS, being the Correspondence of William Pitt. Earl of Chatham 
Edited by the Executors of his Son, John Earl of Chatham, and published from the Origina* 
Manuscripts in their possession. 4 vols. 8vo (pub. at 3^. 12*.), cloth, 11. 5*. 

Murray, 1838-40 

•'A production of greater historical interest could hardly be imagined. It is a standard 
work, which will directly pass into every Horary." — Literary Gazette. 

"There is hardly any man in modern times who fills so large a space in our history, and of 
whom we know so littie, as Lord Chatham ; he was the greatest Statesman and Orator that 
this country ever produced. We regard this Work, therefore, as one of the greatest valoe."-» 
Edinburgh fieview. m 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BT H. G. BOI1N. 

CHATTERTON S WORKS, both Prose and Poetical, including his Letters; -with Notic 
of bis Life. History of the Rowley Controversy, and Notes Critical ana Explanatory. 2 vol' 
post 8vo, elegantly printed, with Engraved Fac-similes of Chatterton'a Handwriting and the 
Rowley MSS. (pub. at 15*.), cloth, 9*. Large Paper, 2 vols, crown 8vo (pub. at 11. is.), cloth, 
12a. 1842 

•' Warton, Malone, Croft, Dr. Knox, Dr. Sherwin, and others, in prose; end Scott, "Words- 
worth, Kirke White, Montgomery, Shelley, Coleridge, and Keats, in verse; have conferred 
lasting irn mortality upon the Poems of Chatterton." 

" Chatterton's was a genius 1 'e that of Homer and Shakspeare, which appears not above 
once in many centuries."— Vicesirnus Knox. 

Ci-ARKES (DR. E. D.) TRAVELS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. 
ASIA, AND AFRICA, 11 vols. 8vo, maps and plates (pub. at liM.), cloth, 3l t 3*. 1827-34 

CLASSIC TALES, Cabinet Edition, comprising the Vicar of Wakefield, Elizabeth, Paul and 
Virginia, Gulliver's Travels, Sterne's Sentimental Journey, Sorrows of Werter, Theodosiuj 
and Constantia, Castle of Otranto, and Rassclas, complete in i vol. 12mo. ; 7 medallion por- 
traits (pub. at 105. 6d.), cloth, 3s. 6d. 

OOLMAN'S (GEORGE) POETICAL WORKS, containing his Broad Grins. Vagaries, and 
Eccentricities, 24mo, woodcuts (pub. at 2*. 6d.), cloth, 1*. Oci. 1840 

COOPERS (J. F.) HISTORY OF THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES OF 

AMERICA, from the Earliest Perioa to the Peace of 1813, 2 vols, 8vo (pub. at 1^. 105.), giit 
cloth, 125. 1838 

COPLEY'S (FORMERLY MRS. HEWLETT) HISTORY OF SLAVERY AND ITS 
ABOLITION. Second Edition, with an Appendix, thick small 8vo, One Portrait of 
Clarkson (pub. at 65. ), cloth, 4*. 6<i. 1839 

COSTELLOS SPECIMENS OF THE EARLY FRENCH POETRY, from the time of 

the Troubadours to the Reign of Henry IV, post Svo, with 4 Plates, splendidly illuminated ia 
gold and colours, cioth giit, 185. 1835 

COWPER'S COMPLETE WORKS, EDITED BY SOUTHEY; comprising his Poems, 
Correspondence, and Translations; with a Life of the Author. 15 vols, post 8vo, embellished 
with numerous exquisite Engravings, alter the designs of Harvey (pub. at 31. 15».), cloth, 
21. 55. 1835-37 

This is the only complete edition of Cowper's Works, prose and poetical, which has ever 
been given to the world. Many of them are still exclusively copyright, and consequently 
cannot appear in any other edition. 

CRAWFURDS (J.) EMBASSY TO SIAM AND COCHIN-CHINA. 2 vols. 8vo, 
Maps, and 25 P;ate3 (pub. at U. lis. Gd.), cli^L, 125. 1830 

CRAWFURDS EMBASSY TO AVA, with an Appendix on Fossil Remains by Professor 
Br/CKLAiVD. 2 vols. 8vo, with 13 Maps, Plates, and Vignettes (pub. at U. lis. &d.), cioth, 
125. 1834 

CRUIKSHANKS THREE COURSES AND A DESSERT. A Series of Tales, in Three 
Sets, viz., Irish, Legal, and Miscellaneous. Crown 8/o, with 51 extremely clever and comic 
Illustrations (publishing in the Illustrated Library at 55.) 

" This is an extraordinary performance. Such an union of the painter, the poet, and the 
novelist, in one person, is unexampled. A tithe of the talent that goes to making the stories 
w >uld set up a dozen of annual writers; and a tithe of the inventive genius that is displayed in 
the illustrations would furnish a gallery."— Spectator. 

DAVIS'S SKETCHES OF CHINA, During an Inland Journey of Four Months; with an 
Account of the War. Two vois., post 8vo, with a new map of China (pub. at 10*.), cloth, 95. 

1841 

DIGDIN'S BIBLIOMANIA: OR BOOK-MADNESS. A Bibliographical Romance. New 
Edition, with considerable Additions, including a Key to the assumed Characters in the 
Drama, and a Supplement. 2 vols, royal 8vo, handsomely printed, embellished by numerous 
Woodcuts, many of which are now tirst added (pub. at 'SI. 3s.), cloth, 11. lis. 6d. Large Paper, 
imperial 8vo, of which only very few copies were printed (pub. at 5^. 55.), cloth, 31. 1J5. ad. 

1842 
This celebrated Work, which unites the entertainment of a romance with the most valuable 
information on all bibliographical subjects, b^s long been very scarce and soid for considerable 
Sims- the small paper for 8/. &*.. and the lar^e paper for upwards of 5u guineas! ! I 

CIBDIN'S (CHARLES) SONGS, Admiralty edition, complete, with a Memoir by T. 
Dibdin, illustrated with 12 Characteristic Sketches, engraved on Steel by Gkokge Crctik- 
shank, 12mo, cloth lettered, 55. 1843 

DOMESTIC COOKERY, by a Lady (Mrs. RtrxDELL) New Edition, with numerous additional 
Receipts, by Mrs. Birch, 12mo., with 9 plates (pub. at 65.) cloth, 3j. 1846 

DRAKE'S SHAKSPEARE AND HIS TIMES, including the Biography of the Poet, 
Criticisms on Iris Genius and Writings, a new Chronology of Lis Plays, and a History of the 
Manners, Customs, and Amusements, Superstitions, Poetry, and Literature of the Elizabethan 
Era. 2 vols. 4to (above 1400 pages), with fine Portrait aid a Plate of Autographs (p«-b. at 
bl. 55.), cloth, 1/. 15. I8I7 

"A masterly production, the publication of which will form an epoch in the Shaksperian his- 
tory of this country. It comprises also a complete and critical analysis of all the P. ays and 
Poems of Shakspeare ; and a comprehensive and powerful sketch of tiie contemporary liter*- 
twe." — Genll<rinan'3 Jlayazine. 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



ENGLISH CAUSES CELEBRES, OR, REMARKABLE TRIALS. Square 12mo, (pub- 

at4s.), ornamental wrapper, 2*. 184A 

FENN'S P ASTON LETTERS, Original Letters of the Paston Family, written firing th« 
Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III, by various Persons of Rank aiu r Conse- 
quence, chiefly on Historical Subjects. New Edition, with Notes and Corrections, con.plete, 
2 vols, hound in 1, square 12mo (pub. at 10s.), cloth gilt, 5s. Quaintly bound in mar«,->n 
morocco, carved hoards, in the early style, gilt edges, 15s. 184"# 

The original edition of this very curious and interesting series of historical Letters is a rare 
hook, and sells for upwards of "ten guineas. The present is not an ahridgment, as might he 
supposed from its form, hut gives the whole matter by omitting the duplicate version of the 
letters written in an obsolete language, and adopting only the more modern, readable versioa 
published by Fenn. 

" The Paston Letters are an important testimony to the progressive condition of society, and 
come in as a precious link in the chain of the moral history of England, which they alone in. 
this period supply. They stand indeed singly in Europe." — Hallam. 

FIELDING'S WORKS, EDITED BY ROSCOE, COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 

(Tom Jones, Amelia, Jonathan Wild, Joseph Andrews, Plays, Essays, and Miscellanies.) 
Medium 8vo, with 20 capital Plates by Cruiksiiank >pub. at U. 4s.), cloth gilt, 14s. 1848 

••Of all the works of imagination to which English genius has given origin, the writings of 
Henry Fielding are perhaps most decidedly and exclusively her own." — Sir Walter Scott. 

"The prose Homer of hhman nature." — Lord Byron. 

FOSTER'S ESSAYS ON DECISION OF CHARACTER; on a Man's Writing Memoirs 
of Himself; on the epithet Romantic; on the Aversion of Men of Taste to Evangelical Reli- 
gion, &c. Fcap. 8vo, Eighteenth Edition (pub. at Cs. ), cloth, 5s. 1848 
"I have read with the greatest admiration the Essays of Mr. Foster. He is one of the most 
profound and eloquent writers that England lias produced." — Sir James Mackintosh. 

FOSTER'S ESSAY ON THE EVILS OF POPULAR IGNORANCE. New Edition, 
elegantly printed, in fcap. 8vo, now first uniform with his Essays on Decision of Character, 
cloth. 5s. 1847 

"Mr. Foster always considered this his best work, and the one by which he wished his 
literary claims to be estimated." 

" A "work which, popular and admired as it confessedly is, has never met with the thousandth 
part of the attention which it deserves." — Dr. Pye Smith. 

FROISSARTS CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND SPAIN, 8cC. New 

Edition, by Colonel Jchnes, with 120 beautiful Woodcuts, 2 vols, super-royal 8vo, cloth 
lettered (pub. at 1/. 16s.), U. 8s. 1849 

FROISSART, ILLUMINATED ILLUSTRATIONS OF, H plates, printed in gold and 
colours, 2 vols, super-royal 8vo, half bound, uncut (pub. at 4/. 10s.), Zl. 10s. 

■■ the same, large paper, 2 vols, royal 4to, half bound, uncut (pub. at 10/. 10s.), 6i. 6$ m 

FROISSARTS CHRONICLES, WITH THE 74 ILLUMINATED ILLUSTRATIONS 
INSERTED, 2 vols, super-royal 8vo, elegantly half bound red morocco, gilt edges, emble- 
matically tooled (pub, at 61. 6s.), 41. 10s. 1849 

GAZETTEER— NEW EDINEURGH UNIVERSAL GAZETTEER. AND GEOGRA- 
PHICAL DICTIONARY, more complete than any hitherto published. New Edition, revised 
and completed to the present time, by John Thomson (Editor of the Universal Atlas, &c), 
■very thick 8vo (1040 pages), Maps (pub. at 18s.), cloth, 12s. 

This comprehensive volume is the latest, and by far the best Universal Gazetteer of its size. 
It includes a full account of Affghanistan, New Zealand, &c. &c. 

CELLS (SIR WILLIAM) TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND ITS VICINITY. An 

improved Edition, complete in 1 vol. 8vo, with several Plates, cloth, 12s. With a very large 
Map of Rome and its Environs (from a most careful trigonometrical survey), mounted on cloth, 
and folded in a case so as to form a volume. Together 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 1/. Is. 1846 

"These volumes are so replete with what is valuable, that were we to employ our entire 
journal, we could, after all, afford but a meagre indication of their interest and worth. It is, 
indeed, a lasti g memorial of eminent literary exertion, devoted to a subject of great import- 
ance, and one dear, not only to every scholar, but to every reader of intelligence to whom the 
truth of history is an object of consideration." 

GILLIES' (DR.) HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, Relating to Remarkable Periods of the 

Success of the Gospel, including the Appendix and Supplement, with Prefaces and Con- 
tinuation by the Rev. H. Bonak, royal 8vo (pub. at 15s. ccZ. ), cloth, 7s. (id. 1845 

GLEIG'S MEMOIRS OF WARREN HASTINCS, first Governor-General of Bengal. 3 
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1S12 
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GORDON'S HISTORY OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION, and of the War- and Cam- 
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JAMES'S WILLIAM THE THIRD, comprising the History of his Reign, illustrated in a 
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184J 



18 CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 

JOHNSTON'S TRAVELS IN SOUTHERN ABYSSINIA, through the Country of Adal, 

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KIRBY'S WONDERFUL MUSEUM. 5 vols. 8vo, upwards of loo curious portrait* and 
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KENT. With 5S Engravings on Wood, and a F large illuminated Map. Reduced to 2s. 6d. 

KNOWLES'S IMPROVED WALKERS PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY, containing 

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LACONICS; OR, THE BEST WORDS OF THE BEST AUTHORS. Seventh 

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gilt, is. 6d. Tilt, 1840 

This pleasant collection of pithy and sententious readings, irom the best English authors of 

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LANE'S KORAN, SELECTIONS FROM THE. with an interwoven Commentary, trans- 
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LEAKES (COL.) TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 3 vols. 8vo. With a very large Map of 
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LEWIS'S (MONK) LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE, with many Pieces in Prose and 
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LISTER'S LIFE OF EDWARD FIRST EARL OF CLARENDON- With Original 
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LOCKHART'S HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO AND NEW SPAIN, 

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book one of the most singular that is to be found in any language."— Dr. Robertson in his 
41 History of America." 

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PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY II. G. BOHN. 19 

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20 



CATALOGS OF NEW BOOKS 



POPULAR ERRORS EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED. By John Timbs (Author 
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PRIOR'S LIFE OF EDMUND BURKE, with unpublished Specimens of his Poetry and 
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PRIOR'S LIFE OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH, from a variety of Original Sources, 2 vols. Svo, 
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RAFFLES' HISTORY OF JAVA, AND LIFE, with an account of Bencoolen, and Details 
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RICH'S BABYLON AND PERSEPOLIS, viz. Narrative of a Journey to the Site of 
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RITSON'S VARIOUS WORKS AND METRICAL ROMANCES, as Published by 
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RITSON'S FAIRY TALES, now first collected; to which are prefixed two Dissertations__l. On 
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" Roscoe is, I think, by far the best of our Historians, both for beauty of stvle and for deep 
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ROSCOE'S ILLUSTRATIONS, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL, of the Life oi 

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*#* This volume is supplementary to ail editions of the work. 



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ROXBURGHE BALLADS, edited by John Payne Collier, post 4to, beautifully printed 
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SCOTT'S (SIR VVALTF/,; POETICAL WORKS. Containing Lay of the Last Minstrel, 
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SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS AND POEMS. Vaepy's Cabinet Pictorial Edition, with Life, 
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u Whatever Sheridan has done, has been par excellence, always the best of its kind. He has 
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SHIPWRECKS AND DISASTERS AT SEA; narratives of the most remarkable Wrecks, 
Conflagrations, Mutinies, &c. comprising the "Loss of the Wager," "Mutiny of the Bounty," 
&c. 12mo, frontispiece and vignette (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 3s. 1846 

SMOLLETT'S WORKS, Edited by Roscoe. Complete in 1 vol. (Roderick Random, Hum- 
phrey Clinker, Peregrine Pickle, Launcelot Greaves, Count Fathom, Adventures of an Atom, 
Travels, Plays, &c.) Medium 8vo, with 21 capital Plates, by Cp,uikshank (pub. at 11. is.), 
Cloth gilt, 14*. 1845 

** Perhaps no books ever written excited such peals of inextinguishable laughter as Smol- 
lett's."— Sir Walter Scott. 

SOUTHEY'S LIVES OF UNEDUCATED POETS. To which are added, "Attempts in 
Verse," by John Jones, an Old Servant. Crown 8vo (pub. at 10*. 6c/.), cloth, 4s. Gd. 

Murray, 183& 

SPENSER'S POETICAL WORKS. Complete, vith Introductory Observations on the 
Faerie Queen, and Glossarial Notes, handsomely printed in 5 vols, post 8vo, fine Portrait 
(pub. at 21. 12*. Gd.), cioth, 11. Is. 1845 

STERNE'S WORKS, complete in 1 vol. 8vo, I-ortrait and vignette (pub. at 18*.), cloth, 10*. 6rf. 

ST. PIERRE'S WORKS, including the "Studies of Nature," "Paul and Virginia," and the 
"Indian Cottage," with a Memoir of the Author, and Notes, by the Rev. E. Clarke, 
complete in 2 thick vols. fcap. Svo, Portrait and Frontispieces (pub. at 1G*.), cloth, 7*. 1846 

SWIFT'S WORKS, Edited by Roscoe. Complete in 2 vols. Medium 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 
1/. 12*.), cloth giit, 11. 4*. 1848 

" Whoever in the three kingdoms has any books at all, has Swift."— Lord Chesterfield. 

TAYLOR'S (W. B. S.) HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN, numerous 
Wood Engravings of its Buildings and Academic Costumes (pub. at 1/.), cloth, 7*. Gd. 1845 

THIERS' HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, the 10 parts in l thick vol. 
royal 3vo, handsomely printed, cloth lettered (pub. at 1/. 5*.), 10s. 

■ the same, the parts separately, each (pub. at 2*. Gd.) Is. Gd. 

THIERS' HISTORY OF THE CONSULATE AND EMPIRE OF NAPOLEON, 

the 10 parts in 1 thick volume, royal 8vo, handsomelv printed, cloth lettered (pub. at 11. 5*.), 
10*. 
• the same, the parts separatery, each (pub. at 2s. Gd.) Is. Gd, 

TUCKER'S LIGHT OF NATURE PURSUED. Complete in 2 vols. Svo (pub. at II. 10*.), 
cloth., 15*. 1842 

"The 'Light of Nature* Is a work which, after much consideration, I think myself autho- 
rized to call the most original and profound that has ever appeared on moral philosophy." — Sir 
James Mackintosh. 

( TYTLER'S ELEMENTS OF GENERAL HISTORY, New Edition, thick l2mo (526 
closely printed pages), steel frontispiece (pub. at 5*.) cloth, 3*. Gd. 1847 

WADES BRITISH HISTORY, CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. Comprehending 
a classified Analysis of Events and Occurrences in Church and State, and of the Constitutional, 
Political, Commercial, Intellectual, and Social Progress of the United Kingdom, from the first 
Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of Queen Victoria, with very copious Index ana 
Supplement. New Eaition. 1 large and remarkably thick vol. royal 8vo (1200 pages), 
eioth, 18*. F °1847 



22 CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 

WATERSTQN'S CYCLOPEDIA OF COMMERCE, MERCANTILE, LAW, FINANCE, 

COMMERCIAL, GEOGRAPHY AND NAVIGATION. New Edition, including the New 
Tariff (complete to the present time) ; the French Tariff, as far as it concerns this country; 
and a Treatise on the Principles, Practice, and History of Commerce, by J. R. M'Culi^och. 
1 very thick closely printed vol. 8vo (900 pages), with" 4 Maps (pun. at 11. 4*.), extra cloth, 
10*. 6d. 1847 

"This capital work will he found a moat valuable manual to every commercial man, and a 
Useful hook to the general reader. 

WEBSTER'S ENLARGED DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 

Containing the whole of the former editions, and large additions, to which is prefixed an Intro- 
ductory Dissertation on the connection of the languages of Western Asia and Europe, edited 
by Chauxcey A. Goodrich, in one thick elegantly printed volume, 4to., cloth, 21. 2a. (The 
most complete dictionary extant). 1848 

WHITE'S FARRIERY, improved by Rosser, 8vo, with plates engraved on Steel (pub. at 14*.), 
cloth, 7*. 1847 

WHYTES HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD 
TO THE PRESENT DAY. 2 vols. 8vo, Plates (pub. at 11. 8*.), cloth, 12*. 1840 

WILLIS'S PENCILLINGS BY THE WAY. A new and beautiful Edition, with additions, 
fcap. 8vo, fine Portrait and Plates (pub. at 6*.), extra red Turkey cloth, richly gilt back, 3s. 6d. 
11 A lively record of first impressions, conveying vividly what was seen, heard, and felt, by an 
active and inquisitive traveller, through some of the most interesting parts of Europe. His 
curiosity and love of enterprise are unbounded. The narrative is told in easy, fluent language, 
with a poet's power of illustration."— Edinburgh Review. 

WORCESTER'S NEW CRITICAL AND PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY OF 

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, to which is added Walker's Key, and a Pronouncing Voca- 
bulary of modern Geographical Names, thick imperial 8vo (pub. at 14 5*.), cloth, 18*. 1847 
*** The most extensive catalogue of words ever produced. 

WRANGELL'S EXPEDITION TO SIBERIA AND THE POLAR SEA, edited by 
Lieu«t.-Col. Sabine, thick 12mo, large map and port. (pub. at 6*.), cloth, 4*. 6d. 1844 

WRIGHT'S COURT HAND RESTORED, or the Student assisted in reading old charters, 
deeds, &c. small 4to, 23 plates (pub. at U. <>*.), cloth, 15*. 1846 



^Jrologg, i^orals, ecclesiastical pMstorg, &r. 



BINGHAM'S ANTIQUITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. New and Improved 

Edition, carefully revised, with an enlarged Index. 2 vols. impl. 8vo, cloth, 1/. 11*. 6cf. ISoO 

*' Bingham is a writer who does equal honour to the English clergy and to the English 

nation, and whose learning is only to be equalled by his moderation and impartiality." — 

Quarterly Review. 

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. Quite complete, with a Life and Notes, by the Rev 
T. Scott. Fcap. 12mo, with 25 fine full-sized Woodcuts by Harvey, containing all in 
Southey's edition; also a fine Frontispiece and Vignette, cloth, 3*. 6d. 1844 

CALMETS DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, WITH THE BIBLICAL FRAG 

MENTS, by the late Charles Taylor. 5 vols. 4to, Illustrated by 202 Copper-plate En- 
gravings. Eisrhth arreatly enlarged Edition, beautifully printed on fine wove paper (pub. at 
10/. 10*.), gilt cloth, U. 14*. 6d. ' 1847 

"Mr. Taylor's improved edition of Calmet's Dictionary is indispensably necessary to every 
Biblical Student. The additions made under the title of ' Fragments' are extracted from the 
most rare and authentic Voyages and Travels into Judea and other Oriental countries; and 
comprehend an assemblage of curious and illustrative descriptions, explanatory of Scripture 
incidents, customs, and manners, which could not possibly be explained by any other medium. 
The numerous engravings throw great light on Oriental customs." — Home. 

CALMET'S DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE, abridged, 1 large vol. Imperial 8vo, 

Woodcuts and Maps (pub. at 1/. 4*.), cloth, 15*. 1847 

CARYS TESTIMONIES OF THE FATHERS OF THE FIRST FOUR CENTU- 
RIES, TO THE CONSTITUTION AND DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH OF 
ENGLAND, as set forth in the XXXIX Articles, 8vo (pub. at 12*.), cloth, 7*. M. 

Ocfard, Talboys. 

"This work may be classed with those of Pearson and Bishop Bull; and such a classifica- 
tion is no mean honour." — Church of England Quarterly. 

CHARNOCK'S DISCOURSES UPON THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES 

OF GOD. Complete in 1 thick closely printed vol. 8vo, with Portrait (pub. at 14*.), 
cloth, 6*. 6(i. 1846 

•' Perspicuity and depth, metaphysical sublimity and evangelical simplicity, Immense learn- 
ing but irrefragable reasoning, conspire to render this performance one of the most inestimable 
productions that ever did nonour to the sanctiied judgment and genius of a Human being."— 
Toptady. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 23 

CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Containing the following esteemed Treatises, with Prefatory 
Memoirs by the Rev. J. S. Memes, L.L.D. viz:— Watson's Apology for Christianity; "Watson's 
Apology for the Bible; Paley's Evidences of Christianity; Paley's Horae Paulinae ; Jenyn's 
Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion; Leslie's Truth of Christianity Demonstrated; 
Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists; Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the 
Jews; Chandler's Plain Reasons for being a Christian; Lyttletcn on the Conversion of St. 
Paul; Campbell's Dissertation on Miracles; Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses, with Sequel; 
fc'est on the Resurrection. In 1 vol. royal Svo (pub. at 14a.), cloth, 10*. 1845 

CHRISTIAN TREASURY. Consisting of the following Expositions and Treatises, Edited by 
Memes, viz: — Magee's Discourses and Dissertations on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement 
and Sacrifice; Witherspoon's Practical Treatise on Regeneration; Boston's Crook in the Lot; 
Guild's Moses Unveiled; Guild's Harmony of all the Prophets; Less's Authenticity, Un- 
corrupted Preservation, and Credibility of the New Testament; Stuart's Letters on the 
Divinity of Christ. In 1 vol. royal 8vo (pub. at 12s.), cloth, 8s. 1844 

CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE TO THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, revised 
and condensed by G. H. Hanxay, thick ismo, beautifully printed (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 3s. 6d. 

1844 
•'An extremely pretty and very cheap edition. It contains all that is useful in the original 
work, omitting only prepositions, conjunctions, &c. which can never be made available for 
purposes of reference. Indeed it is all that the Scripture student can desire." — Guardian. 

FULLER'S (REV. ANDREW) COMPLETE WORKS; with a Memoir of his Life, by Ms 
Son, 1 large vol. imperial Svo, New Edition, Portrait (pub. at U. 10s.), cloth, 14. 5s. 1845 

GREGORY'S (DR. OLINTHUS) LETTERS ON THE EVIDENCES, DOCTRINES, 
AND DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, addressed to a Friend. Eighth Edition, 
with many Additions and Corrections. Complete in 1 thick well-printed vol. fcap. 8vo (pub. 
at 7s. 6d.), cloth, 5s. 1846 

"We earnestly recommend this work to the attentive perusal of all cultivated minds. We 
are acquainted with no book in the circle of English Literature which is equally calculated to 
give young persons just views of the evidence, the nature, and the importance of revealed 
religion."— Robert Hall. 

GRAVES'S (DEAN) LECTURES ON THE PENTATEUCH. 8vo, New Edition (pub. 
at 13s.), cloth, 9s. 1846 

HALL'S (BISHOP) ENTIRE WORKS, with an account of his Life and Sufferings. New 
Edition, with considerable Additions, a Translation of all the Latin Pieces, and a Glossary, 
Indices, and Notes, bv the Rev. Petek Hall, 12 vols. 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 71. 4s.), cloth, 51. 

Oxford, Talboys, 1837-39 

HALL'S (THE REV. ROBERT) COMPLETE WORKS, with a Memoir of his Life, by 

Dr. Olinthus Gregohy, and Observations on his Character as a Preacher, by John Foster, 
Author of Essavs on Popular Ignorance, &c. 6 vols. 8vo, handsomely printed, with beautiful 
Portrait (pub. at 31. 16s.), cloth, contents lettered, II. lis. 6d. 

The same, printed in a smaller size, 6 vols. fcap. 8vo, 1/. Is. cloth, lettered. 

"Whoever wishes to see the English language in Ps perfection must read the writings of that 
great Divine, Robert Hall. He combines~the beauties of Johnson, Addison, and Burke, 
without their imperfections." — Dvyald Stewart. 

M I cannot do better than refer the academic reader to the Immortal works of Robert Hall. 
For moral grandeur, for Christian truth, and for sublimity, we may doubt whether they have 
their match in the sacred oratory of any age or country." — Professor Sedgwick. 

"The name of R.obert Hall will be placed by posterity among the best writers of the age, as 
well as the.most vigorous defenders of religious truth, and the brightest examples of Christian 
charity. "-^Sir J. Mackintosh. 

HENRY'S (MATTHEW) COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE, by Bickersteth. In 
6 vols. 4to, New Edition, printed on fine paper (pub. at <Jl. 9s.), cloth, 31. 15a. dd. 1849 

HILL'S (REV. ROWLAND) MEMOIRS, by his Friend, the Rev. W. Jones, Edited, with 
a Preface, by the R.ev. James Sherman (Rowland Hill's Successor as Minister of Surrey 
Chapel). Second Edition, carefullv revised, thick post 8vo, fine Steel Portrait (pub. at 10s.) 
cloth, 5*. 1845 

HOPKINS'S (BISHOP) WHOLE WORKS, with a memoir of the Author, in l thick vol. 

royal 8vo (pub. at I8s.), cloth, 14s. The same, with a very extensive general Index of Texts 

and Subjects, 2 vols, royal 8vo (r*ih. at 1/. 4s.), cloth, 18s. 1841 

"Bishop Hopkins's works form of themselves a sound body of divinity. He is clear, vehe • 

ment, and persuasive."— Bickersteth. 

HOWE'S WORKS, with Life, by Calamy, 1 large vol. imperial 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 11. 16s.), 

cloth, 11. lot. i»38 

" I have learned far more from John Howe tfcan from any other author I ever read. There 

is an astonishing magnificence In his conceptions. He was unquestionably the greatest of the 

puritan divines." — Robert Hall. 

HUNTINGDON'S (COUNTESS OF) LIFE AND TIMES. By a Member of the Houses 
of Shirley and Hastings. Sixth Thousand, with a copious Index. 2 large vols. Svo, Portraits 
of the Countess, Whitefield, and Wesley (pub. at 11. 4s.), cloth, lis. 1844 

HUNTINGDON'S (REV. W.) WORKS, Edited by his Son, 6 vols. 8vo, Portraits and Plates 
(pub. at 31. 18s. 6d.) t cloth, 21. 5s. 

LEIGHTON'S (ARCHBISHOP) WHOLE WORKS; to which is prefixed a life of the 
Author, by the Rev. N. T. Pearson. New Edition, 2 thick vols, bvo, Portrait (pub. s\ U- *»•) 
extra cloth, 10*. The only complete Edition. 18** 



24 CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



LEIGHTONS COMMENTARY ON PETER; with Life, by Pearson, complete in l 
thick handsomely printed vol. 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 12s.), cloth, 9s. 1849 

LIVES OF THE ENGLISH SAINTS. By the Rev. J. H. Newman and others, 14 vols. 
12mo (pub. at 21. 8s.), sewed in ornamented covers, IL Is. 1844-5 

M'CRIE'S LIFE OF JOHN KNOX, with Illustrations of the History of the Reformation in 
Scotland. New Edition with numerous Additions, and a Memoir, &c. by Andrew Crichton. 
Fcap. 8vo (pub. at 5s.), cloth, 3s. Gd. 18*47 

MAGEE'S (ARCHBISHOP) WORKS, comprising Discourses and Dissertations on the 
Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice; Sermons, and Visitation Charges. With a 
Memoir of his Life, by the Rev. A. H. Kenny, D.D. 2 vols. 8vo (pub. at 11. 6s.), cloth, 18s. 

1842 
"Discovers such deep research, yields so much valuable information, and affords so many 
helps to the refutation of error, as to constitute the most valuable treasure of biblical learning, 
of which a Christian scholar can be possessed."— Christian Observer. 

MORES (HANNAH) LIFE, by the Rev. Henry Thomson, post Svo, printed uniformly 
with her works, Portrait, and Wood Engravings (pub. at 12s.), extra cloth, Cs. Cadell, 1838 

"This may be called the official edition of Hannah More's Life. It brings so much new an 1 
interesting matter into the field respecting her, that it will receive a hearty welcome from the 
public. Among the rest, the particulars of most of her publications will reward the curiosity 
of literary readers." — Literary Gazette. 

MORE'S (HANNAH) SPIRIT OF PRAYER, fcap. Svo, Portrait (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 4s. 

Cadell, 1843 

MORES (HANNAH) STORIES FOR THE MIDDLE RANKS OF SOCIETY, 

and Tales for the Common People, 2 vols, post 8vo (pub. at 14s.), cloth, 9s. Cadell, 1830 

MORE'S (HANNAH) POETICAL WORKS, post 8vo (pub. at Ss.), cloth, 3s. Gd. 

Cadell, 1829 

MORE'S (HANNAH) MORAL SKETCHES OF PREVAILING OPINIONS AND 

MANNERS, Foreign and Domestic, with Reflections on Prayer, post 8vo (pub. at 9s.), 
cloth, 4s. Cadell, 1S30 

MORE'S (HANNAH) ESSAY ON THE CHARACTER AND PRACTICAL 

WRITINGS OF ST. PAUL, post Svo (pub. at 10s. Gd.), cloth, 5s. Cadell, 1837 

MORE'S (HANNAH) CHRISTIAN MORALS. Post Svo (pub. at lOs.ed.), cloth, 5s. 

Cadell, 1836 

MORE'S (HANNAH) PRACTICAL PIETY; Or, the Influence of the Religion of the 
Heart on the Conduct of the Life, 32mo, Portrait, cloth, 2s. 6rf. 1850 

The only complete small edition. It was revised just before her death, and contains much 
improvement, which is copyright. 

MORE'S (HANNAH) SACRED DRAMAS, chiefly intended for Young People, to which is 
added "Sensibility," an Epistle, 32mo (pub. at 2s. 6d.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, 2s. 1850 

This is the last genuine edition, and contains some copyright editions, which arc not in any 
other. 

MORE'S (HANNAH) SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS; with Ballads, Tales, Hymns, 

and Epitaphs, 32mo (pub. at 2s. Gd.}, gilt cloth, gilt edges, Is. Gd. 1850 

NEFF (FELIX) LIFE AND LETTERS OF, translated from the French of M. Bost, by 

M. A. Wyatt, fcap. Svo, Portrait (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 3s. Gd. 1843 

PALEY'S WORKS, in 1 vol. consisting of his Natural Theology, Moral and Political Philosophy, 
Evidences of Christianity, Horse Paulina;, Clergyman's Companion in Visiting the Sick, &c. 
8vo, handsomely printed in double columns (pub. at 10s. Gd.), cloth, 5s. 1849 

PALEY'S COMPLETE WORKS, with a Biographical Sketch of the Author, by Rev. D. S. 
Wayland, 5 vols. Svo (pub. at 11. 15s.), cloth, 18s. I837 

PASCAL'S THOUGHTS ON RELIGION, and Adam's Private Thoughts on Religion, 
edited by the Rev. E. Bickerstkth, fcap. Svo (pub. at 5s.), cloth, 3s. 6d. " 1847 

PICTORIAL DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE, Or, a Cyclopaedia of Illustrations, 
Graphic, Historical, and Descriptive of the Sacred Writings, by "reference to the Manners, 
Customs, Rites, Traditions, Antiquities, and Literature of Eastern Nations, 2 vols 4to (up- 
wards of 1430 double column pages in good type), with upwards of 1000 illustrative Woodcutx 
(pub. 21. 10s. ), extra cloth, It. 5s. 18 ^ 

SCOTT'S (REV. THOMAS) COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE, with the Author's 
last Corrections and Improvements, and 84 beautiful Woodcut Illustrations and Maps. 3 vols, 
imperial 8vo (pub. at U. 4s.), cloth, 11. 16*. 1850 

SIMEON'S WORKS, including his Skeletons of Sermons and Hor« Homileticre, or Biscoursei 
digested into one continued Series, and forming a Commentarv upon every Book of the Old 
and New Testament; to which are annexed an improved edition of Claude's Essay on the 
Composition of a Sermon, and very comprehensive Indexes, edited by the Rev. Thomas 
Hartwkll Horke, 21 vols. Svo fr>ub. at \ol. 10*.), cloth, 71. 7*. 



PUBLISHED OB SOLD BY H. G. BOHK. 25 

~f%e following miniature editions of Simeon's popular works are uniformly printed in 32tno, and 

bouyid in cloth : 
THE CHRISTIAN'S ARMOUR, 9rf. 
THE EXCELLENCY OF THE LITURGY, 9d. 
THE OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, 9rf. 

HUMILIATION OF THE SON OF GOD: TWELVE SERMONS, 9<f. 
APPEAL TO MEN OF WISDOM AND CANDOUR, 9d. 
DISCOURSES ON BEHALF OF THE JEWS, Is. 6d. 

•'The •works of Simeon, containing 2536 discourses on the principal passages of the Old and 
New Testament Mill be found peculiarly adapted to assist the studies of the younger clergy in 
their preparation for the pulpit; they will likewise serve as a Body of Divinity; and are by 
many recommended as a Biblical Commentary, well adapted to be read in families." — Lowndes. 

SMYTH'S (REV. DR.) EXPOSITION OF VARIOUS PASSAGES OF HOLY 

SCRIPTURE, adapted to the Use of Families, for every Day throughout the Year, 3 vols. 8vo 
(pub. at 11. lis. 6d.), cloth, 9s. 1842 

SOUTH'S (DR. ROBERT) SERMONS: to which are annexed the chief heads of the 
Sermons, a Biographical Memoir, and General Index, 2 vols, royal 8vo (pub. at 11. 4s. L 
cloth, 18s. 1844 

STEBBING'S HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, from the Diet of Augsburg, 
1530, to the present Century, 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at It. 16s.), cloth, 12s. 1839 

STURM'S MORNING COMMUNING WITH GOD, OR DEVOTIONAL 

MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR, translated from the German. New 
Edition, post 8vo, cloth, 5*. 1847 

TAYLOR'S (JEREMY) COMPLETE WORKS, with an Essay, Biographical and Critical, 
3 large vols, imperial 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 31. 15s.), cloth, 3'. 3s. 1836 

TAYLOR'S (ISAAC OF ONGAR) NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM. 

Tenth Edition, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 5*. 1845 

" It is refreshing to us to meet with a work bearing, as this unquestionably does, the impress 
cf bold, powerful, and original thought. Its most strikingly original views, however, never 
transgress the bounds of pure Protestant orthodoxy, or violate the spirit of truth and sober- 
ness ; and yet it discusses topics constituting the very root and basis of those furious polemics 
which have shaken repeatedly the whole intellectual and moral world." — Athenaeum. 

TAYLOR'S (ISAAC) FANATICISM. Third Edition, carefully revised. Fcap, 8vo, cloth. 6*. 

1843 
" It is the reader's fault if he does not rise from the perusal of such a volume as the present 
a wiser and a better man."— Eclectic Review. 

TAYLORS (ISAAC) SATURDAY EVENING. Seventh Edition. Fcap. 8v 0) cloth, 5*. 

1844 
•"Saturday Eveaing,' and 'Natural History of Enthusiasm,' are two noble productions." — 
Blackwood' s Magazine. 

TAYLOR'S (ISAAC) ELEMENTS OF THOUGHT, or concise Explanations, alphabeti- 
cally arranged, of the principal Terms employed in the usual Branches of Intellectual Philo- 
sophy. Ninth Edition. 12mo, cloth, 4a. 1849 

TAYLOR'S (ISAAC) ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY, AND THE DOCTRINES OF THE 
OXFORD "TRACTS FOR THE TIMES." Fourth Edition, with a Supplement and 
Indexes. 2 vols. 8vo (pub. at 11. 4s.), cloth, 18s. 1844 

TAYLOR'S (ISAAC) LECTURES ON SPIRITUAL CHRISTIANITY. 8vo (pub. at 

4s. Gd.), cloth, 3s. 1841 

TOMLiNES (BISHOP) ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, Fourteenth 
Edition, with additional Notes and Summary, by Stebbixg. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, lettered (pub. 
at 1/. 1*.), 10s. 6d. 

-"OMLINE'S (BISHOP) INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

OR ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. Containing Proofs of the Authenticity 
and Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; a Summary of the History of the Jews; an Account of 
the Jewish Sects; and a brief Statement of the Contents of the se'veral Books of the Old and 
New Testaments. Nineteenth Edition, elegantly printed on fine paper. 12mo, (pub. at 5s. 6d. ), 
cloth, 3s. &d. 1845 

"Well adapted as a manual for students in divinity, and may be read with advantage by the 
most experienced divine." — Marsh's Lectures. 

WADDINGTON'S (D£AN OF DURHAM) HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, 
FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE REFORMATION. 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at 1/. 10s.), 
Cloth boards, 11. Is. 

WADDINGTON'S (DEAN OF DURHAM) HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, 
DURING THE REFORMATION. 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at 11. Us. 6ci.), cloth boards, 18s. 1841 

W! LB ER FORCES PRACTICAL VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY. With a comprehensive 
Memoir of the Author, by the R.CY. T. Price, 18mo. printed in a large handsome type (pub. at 
6s." gilt clutii, 2s. 6c. 1845 

WILLMOTTS (R. A.} PICTURES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE Fcap. 8vo (pub. ate*.), 
Cloth, 2*. id. Batchard, 1841 



26 CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 

jpotctgn languages ana Uttcraturt; 

INCLUDING 

CLASSICS AND TRANSLATIONS, CLASSICAL CRITICISM, DICTION. 
ARIES, GRAMMARS, COLLEGE AND SCHOOL BOOKS. 



ATLASES— WILKINSON'S CLASSICAL AND SCRIPTURAL ATLAS, with Histo- 
rical and Chronological Tables, imperial 4to, New and improved Edition, 53 maps, coloured 
(pub. at 21. 4s.), half hound morocco, II. lis. &d. 1842 

WILKINSON'S GENERAL ATLAS. New and improved Edition, with all the Railroada 
inserted, Population according to the last Census, Parliamentary Returns, &c. imperial 4to, 
46 Maps, coloured (pub. at U. 16s.), half bound morocco, U. 5s. 1843 

AINSWORTH'S LATIN DICTIONARY, by Dr. J amieson, an enlarged Edition, contain- 
ing all the words of the Quarto Dictionary. Thick Svo, neatly bound (pub. at 14s.), 9s. 1847 

BENTLEY'S (RICHARD) WORKS. Containing Dissertations upon the Epistles of Phalaris, 
Themistocles, Socrates, Euripides, and the Fables of /Esop ; Epistola ad Jo. Millium, .Ser- 
mons; Boyle Lecture; Remarks on Free-thinking; Critical Works, &c. Edited, with copious 
Indices and Notes, by the Rev. Alexander Dyce. 8 vols. Svo; a beautifully printed Edition 
(pub. at U. 18s.), cloth, \L Is. 1836-38 

BIBLIA HEBRAICA, EX EDITIONE VANDER HOOGHT. Recognovit J. D. Aixe- 

mand. Very thick 8vo, handsomely printed (pub. at 11. 5s.), cloth, 10s. 6d. Land. Duncan, 1850 

BIOGRAPHIE UNIVERSELLE, Ancienne et Moderne. Nouvelle Edition, revue, corrigee et 
augmentee par une Societe de Gens de Lettres et de Savants, 21 vols, imperial 8vo (printed in 
a compressed manner in double columns, but very clear type), sewed (pub. at loZ. 10s.), 5/. 5s. 

Bruxelles, 1843-47 

BOURNE'S (VINCENT) POETICAL WORKS, Latin and English, 18mo (pub. at 3s. 6d.), 

Cloth, 2s. 6d. 1833 

■ ' ■ the same, large paper, an elegant volume, 12mo (pub. at 5s.), cloth, 3s. 6rf. 1838 

CICERO'S LIFE, FAMILIAR LETTERS, AND LETTERS TO ATTICUS, 

by Middleios, Melmoxh, and Heberden, complete in one thick vol. royal 8vo, portrait, 
(pub. at U. 4s.), cloth, 12s. 1848 

CORPUS POETARUM LATINORUM. Edidit G. S. Walker. Complete in 1 very thick 

vol. royal 8vo (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, 18s. 

This comprehensive volume contains a library of the poetical Latin classics, correctly 

printed from the best texts, viz : — 

Catullus, Virgil, Lucan, Sulpicia, Calpurnius Siculus, 

Tibullus, Ovid, Persius, Statius, Ausonius, 

Propertius, Horace, Juvenal Silius Italicus, Claudian. 

Lucretius, Phsedrus, Martial, Valerius Flaccus, 

DAMMII LEXICON GR/ECUM, HOMERICUM ET PINDARICUM. CuraDu^cAx, 

royal 4to, New Edition, printed on fine paper (pub. at 51. 5s.), cloth, 1/. Is. 1842 

" An excellent work; the merits of which have been universally acknowledged by literary 
characters."— Dr. Dibdin. 

DEMOSTHENES, translated by Lelantj, the two vols. 8vo, complete in 1 vol. 12mo, hand- 
somely printed in double columns, in peari type, portrait (pub. at 5s.), cloth, 3s. 

DONNEGAN'S GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON, enlarged; with examples, literally 
translated, selected from the classical authors. Fourth edition, considerably enlarged, care- 
fully revised, and materially improved throughout; thick 8vo (1752 pages) (pub. at 21. 2s.), 
cloth, U. Is. 1846 

GAELIC-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-GAELIC DICTIONARY, with Examples, Phrases, 

and Etymological Remarks, by two Members of the Highland Society. Complete in 1 thick 
vol. 8vo. New Edition, containing many more words than the 4to Edition (pub. at 1/. Is.), 
Cloth, 10*. 6iL 1S46 

GRAGLIA'S ITALIAN-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-ITALIAN DICTIONARY, with a 

compendious Italian Grammar and Supplementary Dictionary of Naval Terms, 18ino, roan 
(pub. at 8s.), 4s. 6d. 1848 

HERMANNS MANUAL OF THE POLITICAL ANTIQUITIES OF GREECE, 

Historically considered, translated frem the German, Svo (pub. at 15s.), cloth, 10s. id. 

Oxford, Talboys, 1836 
•'Hermann's Manual of Greek Antiquities is most important." — Thirlwali's Hist, of Greece, 
vol. i. p. 443. 

HERODOTUS, CARY'S (REV. H.) GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON TO 

HERODOTUS, adapted to the Text of Gaisford and Baehr, and all other Editions, 8vo, cloth 
(pub. at 12s.), 8s. 

LEMPRIERE'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. Miniature Edition, containing a full Aecsnnt 
of all the Proper Names mentioned in Ancient Authors, and much useful information re\j ^.t- 
ing the uses and habits of the Greeks and Romans. New and complete Edition, elegantly 
printed in pearl ty>e, in 1 very thick vol. 18mo (pub. at 7«. 6d.), cloth, 4s. Get. lfr** 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 27 

LEE'S HEBREW GRAMMAR, compiled from the best Authorities, and principally from 
Oriental Sources, designed for the use of Students in the Universities. New Edition, enriched 
with much original matter. Sixth Thousand, 8vo (pub. at 12a.), cloth, 8j. Land. Duncan, 1840 

LEE'S HEBREW, CHALDEE, AND ENGLISH LEXICON. Compiled from the best 
Authorities, Oriental and European, Jewish and Christian, including Buxtorf, Taylor, 
Parkhurst, and Gesexius ; containing all the Words, with their Inflections, Idiomat'.c 
Usages, &c. found in the Hebrew and Chaldee Text of the Old Testament; with numerous 
corrections of former Lexicographers and Commentators, followed by an English Index, in 1 
thick vol. 8vo. Third Thousand (pub. at 11. 5s.), cloth, 15*. London, 1844 

LEVERETTS LATIN-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-LATIN LEXICON, compiled from 
Faccioxati and Schexxer. Thick royal 8vo (pub. at U. 11*. Cc/.), cloth, 11. 3*. 184" 

LIVII HISTORIA, EX RECENSIONE DRAKENBORCHII ET KREYSSIG; 

Et Annotationes Crevierii, Strothii, Ruperti, et aliorum; Animadversiones Niebuhrii, 
Wachsmuthii, et suas addidit Travers Twiss, J. C B. Coll. Univ. Oxon. Socius et Tutor. 
Cum Indice amplissimo, 4 vols. 8vo (pub. at \l. 18*.), cloth, 11. 8*. Oxford, 1841 

This is the best and most useful edition of Livy ever published In octavo, and it is preferred 
in all our universities and classical schools. 

LIVY. Edited by Prendevixle. Livii Historiae libri quinque priores, with English Notes, 
by Prendevixxe. New Edition, 12mo, neatly bound in roan, 5*. 1645 

. the same, Books I to III, separately, cloth, 3s. 6rf. 

—————— the same, Books IV and V, cloth, 3*. 6d. 

NEWMAN'S PRACTICAL SYSTEM OF RHETORIC; or, the Principles and Rules of 
Style, with Examples. Sixth Edition, 12mo (pub. at 5s. 6d.), cloth, 4*. 1846 

NIEBUHR'S HISTORY OF ROME, epitomized (for the use of colleges and schools), with- 
Chronological Tables and Appendix, by Travers Twiss, B.C.D. complete in 2 vols, bound in' 

I, 8vo (pub. at U. Is.), cloth, \0s. 6d. Oxford, Talboys, 183/ 
"This edition by Mr. Twiss is a very valuable addition to classical learning, clearly and ably 

embodying all the latest efforts of the laborious Niebuhr." — Literary Gazette. 

OXFORD CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, from the 
earliest Period to the present Time; in which all the great Events, Civil, Religious, Scientific, 
and Literary, of the various Nation? of the World are placed, at one view, under the eye of the 
Reader in a Series of parallel columns, so as to exhibit the state of the whole Civilized World 
at any epoch, and at the same time form a continuous chain of History, with Genealogical 
Tables of all the principal Dynasties. Complete in 3 Sections; viz: — 1. Ancient History. 

II. Middle Ages. III. Modern History. With a most complete Index to the entire work, 
folio (pub. at U. 16*.), half bound morocco, 11. Is. 

The above is also sold separately, as follows : — 

THE MIDDLE AGES AND MODERN HISTORY, 2 parts in 1, folio (pub. at 11. 2s. 6d.), 
sewed, 15*. 

MODERN HISTCP.Y, folio (pub. at 12s.), sewed, 8*. 

PLUTARCH'S LIVES, by the Langhorues. Complete in 1 thick vol. 8vo (pub. at 15*.), 

cloth, 7*. 6d. 

RAMSHORN'S DICTIONARY OF LATIN SYNONYMES, for the Use of Schools and 
Private Students. Translated and Edited by Dr. Lieber. Post 8vo (pub. at 7s.), cloth, 4s. 6d. 

1841 

RITTER'S HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY, translated from the German, by 
A. J. W. Morrison, B.A. Trinity College, Cambridge. 4 vols. 8vo, now completed, with a 
General Index, cloth, lettered (pub. at 3/. 4*.), 2i. 2s. Oxford, 1846 

The Fourth Volume may be had separately. Cloth, 16* 

"An important work: it may be said to have superseded all the previous histories of philo- 
sophy, and to have become the standard work on the subject. Mr. Johnson is also exempt 
from the usual faults of translators." — Quarterly Review. 

SCHOMANNS HISTORY OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF THE ATHENIANS, 

translated from the Latin, with a complete Index, 8vo (pub. at 10*. 6d.), cloth, 5*. Camb. 1838 
A book of the same school and character as the works of Heeren, Boechk., Schxegel, &c. 

ELLENDTS GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON TO SOPHOCLES, translated by 
Cary. 8vo (pub. at 12*.), cloth, 6*. 6d. Oxford, Talboys, 1841 

STUART'S HEBREW CHRESTOMATHY, designed as an Introduction to a Course of 

Hebrew Study. Third Edition, 8vo (pub. at 14*.), cloth, 9*. Oxford, Talboys, 1834 

This work, which was designed by its learned author to facilitate the study of Hebrew, has 

had a very extensive sale in America. It forms a desirable adjunct to all Hebrew Grammars, 

and is sufficient to complete the system of instruction in that language. 

TACITUS, CUM NOTIS BROTIERI, CURANTE A. J. VALPY. Editio nova, cum 
Appendice. 4 vols. 8vo (pub. at 21. 16*.), cloth, \L 5*. 

The most complete Edition. 

TACITUS, A NEW AND LITERAL TRANS! A^lON. 8vo (pub. at 16*.), cloth, lot.fcf. 

Oxfo^ Talboys t 1839. 



28 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



TENNEMANNS MANUAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, translated from 
the German, hy the Rev. Arthur Johnson, M.A. Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the Universitv 
Of Oxford. In 1 thick closely printed vol. Svo (pub. at 14*.), hoards, 9*. Oxford, Talboys, 1832 
"A work which marks out all the leading epochs in philosophy, and gives minute chronolo- 
gical information concerning them, with biographical notices of the founders and followers of 
the principal schools, ample texts of their works, and an account of the principal editions. In 
a word, to the student of philosophy, I know of no work in English likely to prove half so use- 
ful." — Hayward, in his Translation of Goethe's Faust. 

TERENTIUS, CUM MOTiS VARIORUM, CURA ZEUNII, cura Giles; acced. Index 
copiosissimus. Complete in 1 thick vol. 8vo (pub. at 16*.), cloth, 8*. 1837 

TURNER'S (DAWSON W.) NOTES TO HERODOTUS, for the Use of College 
Students. 8vo, cloth, 12*. 1847 

VALPY'S GREEK TESTAMENT, WITH ENGLISH NOTES, accompanied by parallel 
passages from the Classics. Fifth Edition, 3 vols. 8vo, with 2 maps (ptb. at 21.), cloth, 11. 5*. 

1847 

VIRGIL. EDWARDS'S SCHOOL EDITION. Virgilii JEneis, cura Edwards, et Questi- 
ones Virgilianae, or Notes and Questions, adapted to the middle forms in Schools, 2 vols, in 1, 
12mo, bound in uoth (pub. at Gs. 6d.), 3*. 
*#* Either the Text or Questions may be had separately (pub. at 3*. 6d.), 2s. 6d. 

WILSONS (JAMES, PROFESSOR OF FRENCH IN ST. GREGORY'S COLLEGE) 

FRENCH-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-FRENCH DICTIONARY, containing full Expla- 
nations, Definitions, Synonyms, Idioms, Proverbs, Terms of Art and Science, and Ruleft of 
Pronunciation in each Language. Cor piled from the Dictionaries of the Academy, Bowver, 
Chambaud, Garner, Laveaux, Des Carrieres anu Fain, Johnson and Walker. 1 
large closely printed vol. imperial Svo (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, 11. S*. 1841 

XENOPHONTIS OPERA, GR. ET LAT. SCHNEIDERI ET ZEUNII, Accedit Index 
(Porson and Elmsley's Edition), 10 vols. 12mo, handsomelv printed in a large type, done up 
in 5 vols. (pub. at U. 10*.), cloth, 18*. 1841 

* The same, large paper, 10 vols, cr.own Svo, done up in 5 vols, cloth, 1/. 5*. 

XENOPHON'S WHOLE WORKS, translated by Spelmax and others. The only complete 
Edition, 1 thick vol. Svo, portrait (pub. at lbs.), cloth, 10*. 



iSobds, WloxU of Jetton, Hig&t 3fteaWng. 



AINSWORTH'S WINDSOR CASTLE. An Historical Romance, Illustrated by Georgb 
Cruikshank and Tony Johankox. Medium Svo, fine Portrait, and 105 Steel and Wood 
Engravings, gilt, cloth, 5*. 18*3 

BREMER'S (MISS) HOME: OR, FAMILY CARES AND FAMILY JOYS, translated by 
Mary Kowitt. Second Edition, revised, 2 vols, post Svo (pub. at 11. Is.), cloth, 7*. 6d. 1843 

THE NEIGHBOURS, A STORY OF EVERY DAY LIFE. Translated by Mary 
Howitt. Third Edition, revised. 2 vols, post 8vo (pub. at 18*.), cloth, 7*. 6d. 1843 

CRUIKSHANK "AT HOME;" a New Family Album of Endless Entertainment, consisting 
of a Series of Tales and Sketches by the most popular Authors, with numerous clever and 
humorous Illustrations on Wood, by Cruikshank and Seymour. Also, CRUIKSHANK' S 
ODD VOLUME, OR BOOK OF 'VARIETY. Illustrated by Two Odd Fellows— Sevmour 
and Cruikshank. Together 4 vols, bound in 2, fcap. Svo (pub. at 21. 18*.), cloth, gilt, 10*. lid. 

1845 

HOWITT'S (WILLIAM) LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JACK OF THE MILL 

A Fireside Story. By William Howitt. Second Edition. 2 vols. fcap. Svo, with 46 Illus- 
trations on Wood (pub. at 15*.), cloth, 7s. 6d. 1845 

HOWITT'S (WILLIAM) WANDERINGS OF A JOURNEYMAN TAILOR, 

THROUGH EUROPE AND THE EAST, DURING THE YEARS 1824 to 1840. Trans- 
lated by William Howitt. Fcap. 8vo, with Portrait (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 3*. 6d. 1844 

HOWITT'S (WILLIAM) GERMAN EXPERIENCES. Addressed to the English, both 
Goers abroad and Stayers at Home. 1 vol. fcap. Svo (pub. at 6*.), cloth, 3*. 6d. 1844 

JANE'S (EMMA) ALICE CUNNINGHAME, or, the Christian as Daughter, Sister, Friend, 
and Wife. Post 8vo (pub. at 5*.), cloth, 2*. 6d. 1846 

JOE MILLER'S JEST-BOOK; being a Collection of the most excellent Bon Mots, Brilliant 
Jests, and Striking Anecdotes in the English Language. Complete in 1 thick and closely but 1 
elegantly printed vol. fcap. 12mo, Frontispiece (pub. at 4*.), cloth, 3*. 1S40 

JERROLD'S DOUGLAS) CAKES AND ALE, A Collection of humorous Tale* and 
Sketches. 2 vols, post 8vo with Plates, b v Georgb Cruikshank (pub. at 15*.), cloth 
gilt, 8*. w*a 



. 



PUBLISHED OK SOLD BY II. G. BOHN. 29 

»• ■ — — - ■ — 

LAST OF THE PLANTAGENETS, an Historical Narrative, illustrating the Public Event*, 
and Domestic and Ecclesiastical Manners of the 15th and ICth Centuries. F«ap- 8vo, Third 
Edition (pub. at 7*. 6.V.), cloth, 3*. Cd. 1839 

LEVERS ARTHUR OLEARY; HIS WANDERINGS AND PONDERlNGS IN 

MANY LANDS. Edited by Harry Lorrequer. Cruikshaxk's New Illustrated Edition. 
Complete in 1 vol. Svo (pub." at 12s.), cloth, 9*. 16*5 

LOVER'S LEGENDS AND STORIES OF IRELAND. Both Series. 2 toIs. fcap. 8vo, 
Fourth Edition, embellished with Woodcuts, by Harvey (pub. at 15*.), cloth, 6*. 6d. 1847 

LOVER'S HANDY ANDY. A Ta'e of Irish Life. Medium 8vo. Third Edition, with 24 
characteristic Illustrations on Steel (pub. at 13s.), clotL, 7s. Crf. 1849 

LOVER'S TREASURE TROVE; OR L. S. D. A Romantic Irish Tale of the last Cen- 
tury. Medium 8vo. Second Edition, with 26 characteristic Illustrations on Steel (pub. at 14*. )i 
cloth, 9*. 1S48 

MARRYAT'S (CAPT.) POOR JACK, Illustrated by 46 large and exquisitely beautiful 
Engravings on Wood, after the masterly designs of Clarkson StaNfield, R.A. 1 handsome 
vol. royaf Svo (pub. at 14*.), gilt cloth, 9*. 1850 

MARRYATS PIRATE AND THE THREE CUTTERS, 8vo, with 20 most splendid line 
Engravines, after Staneield, Engraved on Steel by Charles Heath (originally pub. at 
1/. 4*.), gilt cloth, 10s. Gd. 1849 

MILLER'S GODFREY MALVERN, OR THE LIFE OF AN AUTHOR. Bythe 
Author of "Gideon Giles," " Royston Gower," "Day in the Woods," &c. &c. 2 vols in 1, 
8vo, with 24 clever Illustrations by'Pmz (pub. at 13s.), cloth, 6s. 6d. 1843 

' "This work has a tone and an individuality which distinguish it from all others, and cannot 
be read without pleasure. Mr. Miller has the forms and colours of rustic life more completely 
under his control than any of his predecessors." — Athenaeum. 

MIXFORD'S (MISS) OUR VILLAGE; complete in 2 vols, post 8vo, a Series of Rural Tales 

and Sketches. New Edition, beautiful Woodcuts, gilt cloth, 10*. 

PHANTASMAGORIA OF FUN, Edited and Illustrated by Alfred Crowquill. 2 vols, 
post Svo, illustrations by Leech, Crtjikshakk, &c. (pub. at 18s.), cloth, 7*. 6d. 1843 

PICTURES OF THE FRENCH. A Series of Literary and Graphic Delineations of French 

Character. By Jules Janin, Balzac, Cormenin, and other celebrated French Authors. 

1 large vol. royal 8vo, Illustrated by upwards of 230 humorous and extremely clever Wood 

?~' Engravings by distinguished Artists (pub. at \l. 5s.), cloth gilt, 10*. \MO 

This book is extremely clever, both in the letter-press and plates, and has had an immense 

run in France, greater even than the Pickwick Papers in this country. 

POOLE'S COMIC SKETCH BOOK; OR, SKETCHES AND RECOLLECTIONS 

BY THE AUTHOR OF PAUL PRY. Second Edition, 2 vols., post 8vo., fine portrait, 
cloth gilt, with new comic ornaments (pub. at 18s.), 7*. Qd. 1843 

SKETCHES FROM FLEMISH LIFE. By Hendrix Conscience. Square 12mo, 130 Wood 
Engravings (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 4s. 6d. 

TROLLOPES (MRS.) LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL ARMSTRONG, 

' THE FACTORY BOY, medium 8vo, with 24 Steel Piates (pub. at 12*.), gilt cloth, 6s. 6d. 1840 

TROLLOPES (MRS.) JESSIE PHILLIPS. A Tale of the Present Day, medium 8vo, port, 
and 12 Steel Plates (pub. at 12s.), cloth gilt, 6s. 6d. 1844 

UNIVERSAL SONGSTER, Illustrated by Cruikshaxk, being the largest collection of the 
best Songs in the English language (upwards of 5,000), 3 vols. 8vo, with 87 hiFrnorous En- 
gravings on Steel and Wood, by George Critikshank, and 8 medallion Portraits (pub. at 
1/. 16s.), cloth, 13s. 6d. 



gjubcmle antt Slementarg 23oofcs, CHgmnastfcg, Src. 

ALPHABET OF QUADRUPEDS, Illustrated by Figures selected from the works of the 
Old Masters, square 12mo, with 24 spirited Engravings after Berghem, Rembrandt, Cuvp, 
Paul Potter, &c. and with initial letters by Mr. Shaw, cloth, gilt edges (pub. at 4*. C»<.), 3*. 

1859 

» the same, the plates colouAd, gilt cloth, gilt edges (pub. at 7s. 6d.) 5*. 

CRABB'S (REV. G.) NEW PANTHEON, or Mythology of all Nations; especially for the 
Use of Schools and Youne Persons; with Questions for Examination on the Plan of Pinxock. 
18mo, with 30 pleasing lithographs (pub. at 3*.), cloth, 2*. " 1847 

CROWQUILL'S PICTORIAL GRAMMAR. 16mJ, with 120 humorous illustrations (pub. 
at 5s. J, cloth, gilt edges, 2s. Grf. 1844 

DRAPER'S JUVENILE NATURALIST, or Country Walks in Spring, Summer, Autumn, 
an^ Winter, square Limo, with 80 beautifully executed Woodcuts (pub. at 7* 6d ) cloth irilt 
edges, 4*. 6d. " \84S 

ENCYCLOP/EDiA OF MANNERS AND ETIQUETTE, comprising an improved edition 
of Chesterfield's Advice to his Son on Men and Manners; ana the Young Man's own Book; a 
Manual of Politeness, Intellectual Improvement, CDd Moral Deportment, 24mo, Frontispiece, 
cloth, gilt edges, 2*. 1843 



30 



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EQUESTRIAN MANUAL FOR LADIES, by T* A mt Howard. Fcap. 8vo, upwards of 50 

neaut.iful Woodcuts (pub. at 4*.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, 2*. o-. Ig44 

GAMMER GRETHEL'S FAIRY TALES AND POPULAR ©TORIES, translated from 
the German of Grimm (containing 42 Fairy Tales), post Svo, numerous Woodcuts by George 
Cruikshank (pub. at 7*. 6d.), cloth gilt 5* 1840 

GOOD-NATURED BEAR, a Story for Chiiuren of all Ages, by R. H. Hokke. Square 8vo 
plates (pub. at 5*. ) cloth, 3*., or with the plates coloured, 4*. 1850 

GRIMM'S TALES FROM EASTERN LANDS. Square 12mo, plates (pub. at b».), cloth, 
3s. 6d., or plates coloured, is. 6d. i 84 y 

HALL'S (CAPTAIN BASIL) PATCHWORK, a New Series of Fragments of Voyages and 
Travels, Second Edition, 12mo, cloth, with the back very richly and appropriately gilt with 
patchwork devices (pub. at 15*.), 7*. 6d. i 8 41 

HOLIDAY LIBRARY, Edited by William Hazlitt. UniformW printed in 3 vols, plates 
(pub. at 19*. Od.), cloth, 10*. 6rf., or separately, viz:— Orphan of Waterloo, 3*. 6d. Holly 
Grange, 3*. 6d. Legends of Rubezahl, and Fairy Tales, 3*. 6d. 1845 

HOWITT'S (WILLIAM) JACK OF THE MILL. 2 vols. i2mo (pub. at 15*.), cloth gilt, 
7*. 6d. 1844 

HOWITT'S (MARY) CHILD'S PICTURE AND VERSE BOOK, commonly called 
" Otto Speckter's Fable Book;" translated into English Verse, with Freud and German 
Verses opposite, forming a Triglott, square 12mo, with 100 large Wood Engravings (pub. at 
10*. (if/.), extra Turkey cloth, gilt edges, 5*. 1845 

This is one of the most elegant juvenile books ever produced, and has the novelty of being in 
three languages. 

LAMB'S TALES FROM SHAKSPEARE, designed principally for the use of Young Persons 
(written by Miss and Charles Lamb), Sixth Edition, embellished with 20 large and beautiful 
Woodcut Eiigravings, from designs by Harvey, fcap. 8vo (pub. at 7s. 6d.), cloth gilt, 5*. 1843 
" One of the most useful and agreeable companions to the understanding of Shakspeare which 
have been produced. The youthful reader who is about to taste the charms of our great Bard, 
is strongly recommended to prepare himself by first reading these elegant tales."— Quarterly 
Review. 

L. E. L. TRAITS AND TRIALS OF EARLY LIFE. A Series of Tales addressed to 
Young People. By L. E. L. (Miss Landon). Fourth Edition, fcap. 8vo f with a beautiful 
Portrait Engraved on Steel (pub. at 5*.), gilt cloth, 3*. 1845 

LOUDON'S (MRS.) ENTERTAINING NATURALIST, being popular Descriptions, 
Tales and Anecdotes of more than 500 Animals, comprehending all the Quadrupeds, Birds, 
Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, &c. of which a knowledge is indispensable in Polite Education; 
Illustrated by upwards of 500 beautiful Woodcuts, by Bewick, Harvey, Whimper, and 
others, post 8vo, gilt cloth, 7*. 6d . 1850 

MARTIN AND WESTALLS PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE BIBLE, the letter- 
press by the R.ev. Hobart Cauxter, 8vo, 144 extremely beautiful Wood Engravings by the 
first Artists (including reduced copies of Martin's celebrated Pictures, Belshazzar's Feast, 
The Deluge, Fall of Nineveh, &c), cloth gilt, gilt edges, reduced to 12*. Whole bound mor. 
richly gilt, gilt edges, 18*. 1846 

A most elegant present to young people. 

PARLEY'S (PETER; WONDERS OF HISTORY. Square 16mo, numerous Woodcuts 
(pub. at 6*.), cloth, gilt edges, 3s. (3d. 1846 

PERCY TALES OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND; Stories cf Camps and Battle-Fields, 
Wars, and Victories (modernized from Holinshed, Froissart, and the other Chroniclers), 
2 vols, in 1, square 12mo. (Parley size.) Fourth Edition, considerably improved, completed 
to the present time, embellished with 16 exceedingly beautiful Wood Engravings (pub. at 9*.), 
cloth gilt, gilt edges, 5*. 1850 

This beautiful volume has enjoyed a large share of success, and deservedly. 

ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY FORESTERS. By Stephen Percy. Square 12mo, 
8 Illustrations by Gilbert (pub. at 5*.), cloth, 3*. ud., or with coloured Plates, 5*. 1850 

STRICKLAND'S (MISS JANE) EDWARD EVELYN, a Tale of the Rehp.llion of 1745; to 
which is added "The Peasant's Tale," by Jeeeerys Taylor, fcap. 8vo, 2 fine Plates (pub. at 
5«.) cloth gilt, 2s. Qd. 1849 

TOMKIN'S BEAUTIES OF ENGLISH POETRY, selected for the Use of Youth, and 
designed to Inculcate the Practice of Virtue. Twentieth Edition, with considerable additions, 
royal ISmo, very elegantly printed, with a beautiful Frontispiece after Harvey, elegant gilt 
edges, 3*. 6d. 1847 

WOOD-NOTES FOR ALL SEASONS (OR THE POETRY OF BIRDS), a Series of 
Songs and Poems for y>ung People, contributed by Barry Cornwall, Wordsworth,. 
Moore, Coleridge, Campbell, Joanna Baillie, Eliza Cook, Mary Howitt, Mrs. 
Hemans, Hogg, Charlotte Smith, &c. fcap. 8vo, very prettily printed, with 15 beautiful 
Wood Engravings (pub. at 3*. 6d.), cloth, gilt edges, 2*. 184U 

YOUTHS (THE) HANDBOOK OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE, In a Series of 
yaiiiiliarConversationsonthemostinterestin.tr productions of Nature and Art, and on other 
Instructive Topics of Polite Education. ±>> a Lady (Mrs. Pali.iser, the Sister of C*wtain 
Marhyat), 2 vols. fcap. 8vo, Woodcuts (pub. at 15*.), cloth gilt, 6*. 1844 

This is a very clever and instructive book, adapted to tlu capacities of YOU'ig people, on th« 
plan of the Conversations on Chemistry, Mineralogy, BotaLy, &r. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BT E. G. BOHK. 31 



iftlustc anh iltustcal 5Horfts. 



THE MUSICAL LIBRARY. A Selection of the best Vocal and Instrumental Music, both 
English and Foreien. Edited by W. Avrton, Esq. of tbe Opera House. 8 vols, folio, com- 
prehending more than 400 pieces of Music, beautifully printed with metallic types (pub. at 
41. 4s.), sewed, 11. lis. 6d. 

The Vocal and Instrumental may be had separately, each in 4 vols. 16s. 

MUSICAL CABINET AND HARMONIST. A Collection of Classical and Popular Vocal 
and Instrumental Misic: comprising Selections from the best productions of all the Great 
Masters; English, Scotch, and Irish Melodies; with many of the National Airs of other 
Countries, embracing Overtures, Marches, Rondos, Quadrilles, Waltzes, and Gallopades; also 
Madrigals, Duets, and Glees ; the whole adapted either for the Voice, the Piano-forte, the 
Harp, or the Organ; with Pieces occasionally for the Flute and Guitar, under the superin- 
tendence of an eminent Professor. 4 vols, small folio, comprehending more than 300 pieces of 
Music, beautifully printed with metallic types (pub. at 21. 2s.), sewed, 16s. 

The great sale of the Musical Library, in consequence of its extremely low price, has induced 
the Advertiser to adopt the same plan of selling the present capital selection. As tbe contents 
aie quite different from the Musical Library, and the intrinsic merit of the selection is equal, 
the work will no doubt meet with similar success. 

MUSICAL GEM ; a Collection of 300 Modern Songs, Duets, Glees, &c. by the most celebrated 
Composers of the present day, adapted for the Voice, Flute, or Violin (edited by Jons Parry - ), 
3 vols, in I, 8vo, with a beautifully engraved Title, and a very richly illuminated Frontispiece 
(pub. at 12. Is.), cloth gilt, 10s. 6d. 1841 

The ahove capital collection contains a great number of the best copyright pieces, including 
some G# the most popular songs of Braham, Bishop, &c. It forms a most attractive volume. 



JKUMcfae. ^urctrrp, anatomg, ©fjemfetrg, 

33i)gstoIogp, &t. 



BARTON AND CASTLE'S BRITISH FLORA MEDICA; Or, History of the Medicmal 
Plants of Great Britain, 2 vols. 8vo, upwards of 200 finely coloured figures of Plants (pub. at 
3/. 3s.), cloth, 11. 16«. 1845 

An exceedingly cheap, elegant, and valuable work, necessary to every medical practitioner. 

BATEMAN AND WILLAN'S DELINEATIONS OF CUTANEOUS DISEASES. 

4to, containing 72 Plates, beautifully and very accurately coloured under the superintendence 
of an eminent Professional Gentleman (Dr. Carswell), (pub. at 121. 12s.), half bound mor. 
61. 5s. 1840 

" Dr. Bateman's valuable work has done more to extend the knowledge of cutaneous diseases 
than any other that has ever appeared."— Dr. A. T. Thompson. 

BEHR'S HAND-BOOK OF ANATOMY, by Birkett (Demonstrator at Guy's Hospital), 
thick 12mo, closely printed, cloth letteied (pub. at 10s. 6d.), 3s. 6d. 1846 

BOSTOCK'S (DR.) SYSTEM OF PHYSIOLOGY, comprising a Complete View of the 
present state of the Science. 4th Edition, revised and corrected throughout, 8vo (900 pages), 
(pub. at 1*.), cloth, 8s. 1834 

BURNS'S PRINCIPLES OF MIDWIFERY, tenth and best edition, thick 8vo, cloth lettered, 
(pub. at 16s.), 5». 

CELSUS DE MEDICINA, Edited by E. Mulligan, M.D. cum Indice copiosissimo ex edit. 
Targae. Thick 8vo, Frontispiece (pub. at 16s.), cloth, 9s. 1831 

This is the very best edition of Celsus. It contains critical and medical notes, applicable to 
the practice of this country • a parallel Table of ancient and modern Medical terms, synonymes, 
weights, measures, &c. and, indeed, everything which can be useful to the Medical Student; 
together with a singularly extensive Index. 

HOPE'S MORBID ANATOMY, royal 8vo, with 48 highly finished coloured Plates, contain- 
ing 260 accurate Delineations of Cases in ev#»ry known \ariety of Disease (pub. at 51. 5s.), 
cleth, Zl. 3a. 1834 

LAWRENCE'S LECTURES ON COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, 
ZOOLOGY, AND THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. New Edition, post Svo, with a 
Frontispiece of Portraits, engraved on Steel, and 12 Pletes, cloth, 5s. 

LAWRENCE (W.) ON THE DISEASES OF THE EYE. Third Edition, revised and 
enlarged. Svo (820 closely printed pages), (pub. at 11. 4s.), cloth, 10s. 6d. 1344 

LEY'S (DR.) ESSAY ON THE CROUP, 8vo, 5 Plates (pub. at 15*.), cloth, 3s. 6d. 1836 

LIFE OF SIR ASTLEY COOPER, interspersed with bis Sketches of Distinguished Cha- 
racters, by Braksby Cooper. 2 vols. 8vo, with fine Portrait, after Sir TLomas Lawrence 
(pub. at 11. Is.), cloth, 10s. 6d. 1843 

NEW LONDON SURGICAL POCKET-BOOK thick royal I8mc (pub. at 12s.), hf. bd. 5- 

1844 



32 CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS. 



NEW LONDON CHEMICAL POCKET-BOOK; adapted to the Daily use of the Student 
royal 18mo, numerous Woodcuts (pub. at 7s. Cd.), hf. bd. 3s. Gd. i$u 

NEW LONDON MEDICAL POCKET-BOOK, including Pharmacy, Posology, &c. roya! 
18mo (pub. at 8s.), hf. bd. 3a. Cd. 5/ ' ^ 

PARIS' (DR.), TREATISE ON DIET AND THE DIGESTIVE FUNCTIONS, 

5th edition (pub. 12s.), cloth, 5s. 

PLUMBE'S PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE DISEASE OF THE SKIN. 

Fourth edition, Plates, thick 8vo (pub. at 1/. Is.), cloth, 6s. Gd. 

SINCLAIR'S ISIR JOHN) CODE OF HEALTH AND LONGEVITY: Sixth Edition, 

complete in 1 thick vol. 8vo, Portrait (pub. at \l.) t cloth, 7s. 13±$ 

SOUTHS DESCRIPTION OF THE BONES, together with their several connexions 
with each other, and with the Muscles, specially adapted for Students in Anatomy, numerous 
"Woodcuts, third edition, 12mo, cloth lettered (pub. at 7a.), 3s. Gd. 1837 

STEPHENSON'S MEDICAL ZOOLOGY AND MINERALOGY; including also an 
account of the Animal and Mineral Poisons, 45 coloured Plates, royal °»'"- ' nib. at 21. 2s.), 
cloth, 11. Is. 1838 

TYRRELL ON THE DISEASES OF THE EYE, being a Practical Work on their Treat- 
ment, Medically, Topically, and by Operation, by F. Tykrell, Senior Surgeon to the Royal 
London Ophthalmic Hospital. 2 thick vols. 8vo, illustrated by 9 Plates, containing upwards of 
60 finely coloured figures (pub. at If. 16s.), cloth, \l. Is. 1S40 

WOODVILLE'S MEDICAL BOTANY. Third Edition, enlarged by Sir W. Jacksoit 
Hooker. 5 vols. 4to, with 310 Plates, Engraved by Sowerhy, most carefully coloured (pub. 
at 10Z. 10s.), half bound morocco, 51. 5s. The Fifth, or Supplementary Volume, entirely by Sir 
W. J. Hooker, to complete the old Editions. 4to, 36 coloured Plates (pub. at 21. 12s. 6d.„ 
boards, \l. lis. Gd. 1832 



JiJlatfjcmatics. 



BRADLEY'S GEOMETRY, PERSPECTIVE, AND PROJECTION, for the use of 

Artists. 8 Plates and numerous Woodcuts (pub. at 7s.), cloth, 5s. 1S46 

EUCLID'S SIX ELEMENTARY BOOKS, by Dr. Lards eh, with an Explanatory Com- 
mentary, Geometrical Exercises, and a Treatise on Solid Geometry, 8vo, Ninth Edition, 
cloth, Cs. 

EUCLID IN PARAGRAPHS: The Elements of Euclid, containing the first Six Books, and 
the first Twentv-dne Propositions of the Eleventh Book, 12mo, with the Planes shaded, (pub. 
at 6s.), cloth, 3s*. 6(i. Camb. 1845 

JAMIESON'S MECHANICS FOR PRACTICAL MEN, including Treatises on the Com- 
position and Resolution of Forces; the Centre of Gravity; and the Mechanical Powers; illus- 
trated by Exa- Tes and Designs. Fourth Edition, greatly improved, 8vo (pub. at 15s.), 
Cloth, 7s. Gd. 1850 

" A great mechanical treasure."— Dr. Birkbsck. 



BOOKS PRINTED UNIFORM WITH THE STANDARD LIBRARY. 

JOYCES SCIENTIFIC DIALOGUES, enlarged by PiXNOCK, for the Instruction and 
° Entertainment o ^Toung PeopTe New and greatly improved and enlarged Edition, by 

WilTiam Pinkock, completed to the present state of knowledge (COO pages), numerous 

"Woodcuts, 5s. 
STURM'S MORNING COMMUNINGS WITH GOD, or Defotional Meditations for 

every Dav in the Year, 5«. 1847 

CHILLINGWORTHS RELIGION OF PROTESTANTS. 500 PP .3s.6d. 
CARY'S TRANSLATION OF DANTE. (Upwards of coo pages), extra blue cloth, with t 

richly gilt back, 7s. 6d. 
MAXWELL'S VICTORIES OF THE BRITISH ARMIES, enlarged and improved, and 

brought down to .the present time; several highly finished Steel Portraits, and a frontispiece, 

extra gilt cloth, 7s. Gd. 1847 

MICHELET'S HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, translated oyC. Cocss, 

2 vols, in 1, 4s. 
ROBINSON CRUSOE, including his further Adventures, with a Life of Defoe, &c. upward 

of GO fine Woodcuts, i'rom designs by Harvey and WHIMPER, 5s. 
STARLING'S (MISS) NOBLE DEEDS OF WOMAN, or Examples otWem^Cams 
Fortitude, and Virtue, Third Edit.on. enlarged and improved, with two Terv beautiful Front". 

nieces, elesrant in clc-'^i. Zl. 

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